The Lebanese Giant, AL-Riyadi, continued its very strong show in the Asian Championship tournament, and suffered the Indonesian Mapo a very painful defeat (79-44). Abou Chakra continued to use his new rotational strategy which proved to be working perfectly well on court as all players who took their chance to represent
Lebanon tonight, caused some serious damage to Mapo’s basket. Riyadi started the game with Ahmad, Vogel, Turk, Khatib and Mahmoud who dominated the game from the start and hammered their opponents’ basket with one shot after another, while at the same time, taking their defense really seriously and denying them from easy baskets. Rami Akiki and Ali Fakhreddine had their chance to participate in the first quarter and with a 3 pointer from the first and a follow-up basket from the latter, Riyadi ended the first period by 20 pts (26-6).
The Champions of Lebanon managed to Leave the Lebanese turmoil and make it safely to Kuwait to participate in the Asian Championship for the first time since 1998, when the team was the first Lebanese club to earn the bronze medal in this Asian tournament. Riyadi, who had major conceptual problems with the Asian federation, refused to participate in this tournament since that day. Today, the Champions of Lebanon decided to participate again in this tournament and aims at claiming its cup for the first time in the club’s history. As for import players, each club is allowed to use 2 foreigners in the team. For the yellows, Ismail Ahmad will be the first and Joe Vogel will be the second, keeping in mind that the Asian Federation refuses to allow Vogel to play as Lebanese with Riyadi even though the latter played as a Lebanese citizen with the Lebanese National Team twice in the World Cup. Riyadi who appeared very shaky and tired in the latest Pan Arab Tournament, directed all its anger on Al Maty from Kazakhstan in the first game and handed them a punishing 48-point loss of (100-52). Read More...
After a very modest performance in the Pan Arab tournament, Riyadi suffered from its second loss in a row in the second round, and thus will not be able to preserve its title as Champion of the Arabs for the fourth year in a row. However, Riyadi remains the Champion to look up for and watch out from in the whole region, whether Arabic or Asian. Preserving the top spot is a lot harder than achieving it, as our Lebanese heroes enter every game with the huge responsibility of performing as Champions, while their opponents enter the game, ready and expecting to be defeated, with a lot less stress and not much to lose. One cannot but forgive Riyadi for losing this title, since this Champion team, with its star players and outstanding coaching staff, had brought Glory back to the Yellow fortress, clinching one title after another, beating one team after another, and becoming, by far, the best team in Asia and the Arab world. With that in mind, the team that appeared in the recent Pan Arab tournament lacked focus and enthusiasm, as the players looked tired and not as energetic as it is required and expected from them. The team had a very shaky performance against Fes from Morocca, yet managed to win, then appeared exhausted in the second game against Zain Jordan and suffered from a loss despite leading parts of the game, and finally was helpless in the third game, which chance gathered it against Sagesse from Lebanon. With such surprising and unstable performance, Riyadi was expected to lose it title. Now that this is now considered from the past, the team should put this tournament behind its back and start working on fixing the mistakes and be prepared and look forward for the far more important tournament, the Asian Championship, which Riyadi had never won its title. The focus, all the focus, should be on the next challenge, where Riyadi should prove that it is the best in Asia, and add that title, for the first time in its history to its achievements. The fans will be gathering in Kuwait in less than 10 days, to stand behind their team, their heroes, as we take on a new challenge where Riyadi is expected to send a message to all those who doubted or thought that its era ended, that we are here to stay, and that no one should underestimate the Champions!
The Champions of Lebanon managed to Leave the Lebanese turmoil and make it safely to 
After a very modest performance in the Pan Arab tournament, Riyadi suffered from its second loss in a row in the second round, and thus will not be able to preserve its title as Champion of the Arabs for the fourth year in a row. However, Riyadi remains the Champion to look up for and watch out from in the whole region, whether Arabic or Asian. Preserving the top spot is a lot harder than achieving it, as our Lebanese heroes enter every game with the huge responsibility of performing as Champions, while their opponents enter the game, ready and expecting to be defeated, with a lot less stress and not much to lose. One cannot but forgive Riyadi for losing this title, since this Champion team, with its star players and outstanding coaching staff, had brought Glory back to the Yellow fortress, clinching one title after another, beating one team after another, and becoming, by far, the best team in Asia and the Arab world. With that in mind, the team that appeared in the recent Pan Arab tournament lacked focus and enthusiasm, as the players looked tired and not as energetic as it is required and expected from them. The team had a very shaky performance against Fes from Morocca, yet managed to win, then appeared exhausted in the second game against Zain Jordan and suffered from a loss despite leading parts of the game, and finally was helpless in the third game, which chance gathered it against Sagesse from Lebanon. With such surprising and unstable performance, Riyadi was expected to lose it title. Now that this is now considered from the past, the team should put this tournament behind its back and start working on fixing the mistakes and be prepared and look forward for the far more important tournament, the Asian Championship, which Riyadi had never won its title. The focus, all the focus, should be on the next challenge, where Riyadi should prove that it is the best in Asia, and add that title, for the first time in its history to its achievements. The fans will be gathering in Kuwait in less than 10 days, to stand behind their team, their heroes, as we take on a new challenge where Riyadi is expected to send a message to all those who doubted or thought that its era ended, that we are here to stay, and that no one should underestimate the Champions!
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