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Raajiv Tripathi
DOHA
Qatari men's team, led by world No.1 player Nedim Muslic, returned home to a warm welcome after winning the Asian under-18 3x3 title. In the final at Selangor (Malaysia) on Sunday, they defied pressure and defeated the Philippines, the second seeds, 21-9 to emerge the champions.
This is the third title for the Qatari team after the GCC crown and World Championships.
Qatar had fielded women's team as well. Salma el Hossary, Sara Khamis, Yasmin Mohmed Koshkosh and Mona Mohamed Saad played in the Pool A and could not qualify for the knock-out after losing all the four matches. Japan won the crown, beating Kazakhstan 20-16 in the final, while hosts Malaysia were third with a 16-7 victory against Singapore in the bronze medal playoff.
The Qatari men's team had a lot to defend, especially after winning the world title in Astana, Kazakhstan in June. With a change in the side as 15-year-old Al Hadji Bobo Magassa replaced Faris Sadikovic, captain Nedim Muslic, Seydou Ndoye and Alen Hadzibegovic did well in the Pool B and qualified for the elimination round with four wins in as many matches.
Third-seeded Qatar kept up their good work in the knock-out and advanced to the semi-finals with an 18-12 victory against Kyrgyzstan. Their next rivals Japan could not repeat their group match heroics and suffered an 8-21 blowout. The final against the Philippines also turned out to be a one-way affair as Qatar coasted to a 21-9 triumph.
On the return on Monday, Qatar team captain Muslic said,"(We're) Feeling very good after winning the Asian under-18 title. We were under a little pressure. It was quite challenging event as you know we were coming off the World championships victory in Kazakhstan.
"We believed in the team and we knew if we could stick around, we could get through this as well.
"The world championships were of course much harder than this as there were strong teams from the Europe and Americas. But being the world champions was some advantage for us too. We respected our rivals in the Asians and just kept playing to our potential," he added.
Muslic continued,"We were focused and continued to play tougher as the event progresses. We won all the seven matches that we played. In the pool phase, we faced some resistance from Japan.
"We were a bit out of our game. However, we found the solutions and won that game before topping the pool. In the knock-out, we were however in full flow and went on to beat the Philippines in the final to win the title."
Teammate Hadzibegovic commented:"We're very proud and happy to have won another title for Qatar. This is the third for us after the GCC title and World Championship. The championship was hard for us but I'm delighted that we did it. I have been part of all the three title-winning teams."
"The special thing about this event was that it was of course, easier than the Worlds but we gave our best shot, played hard and managed to pull it off," Hadzibegovic said.
Ndoye said,"I am so happy to play and win the Asian championship. By God's grace, we played very well and did the job as a fine unit. We're really pleased with our efforts."
Qatar Basketball Federation Executive Director Saadoun al Kuwari was present at the Hamad International Airport to welcome the team with garlands of red and white roses. He commented:"This title means a lot for us. We are able to establish ourselves as a force in the 3x3 version. We own the senior World title. Our junior players did us proud by claiming the GCC crown and it was followed by the success in the World Under-18 Championship and now in the Asian U18.
"At the QBF, we're really working well and hard under our President Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al Thani's vision. As a result, we've achieved so much in such a short time. But let me tell you, there is more to come and we will keep working with total dedication in pursuit of more such successes.
"Of course, there was pressure on the team going into the Asian championship after winning the world title. But the players soaked up the pressure and handled all the matches quite admirably.
"We had started a development programme, devised by Sheikh Saoud, some time back. Now we have a strong base. We've more under-18 players and I'm confident that we can prepare ourselves for the future senior world championships through this talent bank," added Kuwari.
