The preolympic basketball tournament will take place, from July 14 to 20, in Maroussi, in the Hellenic country. The Lebanese championship has just ended in Riyadi Beirut. Time is passing by and four weeks are just left for the national team to be ready for such an important event.

The sport selector Fouad Abou Chakra convoked around twenty players for a training camp at “Rabieh Marine” hotel that will last till June 18. This training will take place before the trip to Jordan to participate, along with Syria, Jordan, and Palestine (knowing that Irak and Yemen withdrew at the last minute) in the West Asian championships from June 19 to June 22.

Lebanese players will go back to Beirut to put the final touches before their trip to Canada on June 28, where three nations will be waiting for them, including the host country New Zealand. Finally, the national team will finish its preparations in France after participating in a four-team tournament, along with Senegal, Cameroon, and Cap-Vert before flying to Greece.

Only Three were Qualified 

The task of Lebanon will be so rough because the Lebanese team will be facing Brazil and Greece.
In Marrousi, twelve nations from the four corners of the world will be divided into four groups of three during the first round that will take place from July 14 to 16: the first two of each group will be qualified for the quarter-final on July 18, a second phase that Lebanon could win easily in case it is qualified, for it will be facing either the Cap-Vert or Germany, or even New Zealand. The semi-finals, the finals, and the third place game will respectively take place on June 19 and June 20.

Three tickets will only be available for the Olympic dream: only the two finalists and the third team will be travelling to Beijing this summer. This means that the mission seems to be more than utopian, or even impossible, for the teammates of Fadi el Khatib… However, we don’t have to forget that Lebanon faced Venezuela and France and won the 2006 Championship in Japan. 

The Groups:
Group A: Brazil, Greece, Lebanon
Group B: Cap-Vert Germany, New Zealand
Group C: Canada, North Korea, Slovenia
Group D: Cameroon, Croatia, Puerto Rico