BEIRUT (Lebanon)- Coming into Window 3 of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers, Syria were nothing more than underdogs. With a whole lot of factors, beyond basketball, back home stacked up against them, the West Asians faced the uphill task of needing to win both their Window 3 game at their borrowed home of Doha in order to book their place in FIBA’s flagship event for National Teams in Asia.
And as events to turn out, Syria achieved just that thereby ensuring coach Haytham Jamil’s squad made it to the Final 16 of the elite competition.
Leading the charge in those two games were two men, who had been called to do just that. Power forward Omar Cheikh Ali and guard Tarek Aljabi had been out of favour and were forced to watch Syria’s first four games only from the sidelines. But came Window 3, Jamil found the need for these two seasoned campaigners in his roster and the duo justified the induction by playing a critical role in the two wins.
Ali reeled in five of his six attempts from the beyond arc for 15 points against Bahrain to augment the 13 rebound-9 point game he had against UAE to play a stellar role in his team’s progress.
“Most of those watching did not imagine that the Syrian team would win two games,” Ali said.
“This victory and achievement would not have been achieved without the pure intentions and love of the staff, starting from the team supervisor to the last person who made an effort to achieve the goal,” the 34-year-old.
Aljabi added in: “Everyone knows that achieving victory over the Emirates and Bahrain was not an easy matter. But the high morale of our team overcame everything.”
The 35-year-old had a dozen points against the UAE and made his presence count with 5 assists to go with his 8 points against Bahrain.
“We entered the game full of excitement after the victory over the Emirates. The Syrian fans were strongly present in the two games and were the main reason for the victory. We will do our best to raise Syria's name in international forums.”
Coach Jamil was obviously over the moon with his team’s performance.
“For the Syrian team to win two consecutive games during the qualifiers, this has never happened before, so it was a special feeling and indescribable happiness,” the veteran play caller said.
“This qualification was achieved despite the difficulties that the team faced during the preparation period,” he said adding “therefore, these two victories were a reward for the distinguished effort made by the players.”
FIBA