ASIAN  CLUB  CHAMPIONSHIPS  2002   
Kuala Lumpus, Malaysia - April 28 - May 5, 2002

Al Rayyan celebrating the Asian Champions Cup victory (Photo: Asianbasketball.com - ABC Promotions)

Al Rayyan's Yasseen Ismail kisses the ABC Champions Cup presented by adidas. (Photo: Asianbasketball.com - ABC Promotions)

Official Tournametn Opening Ceremony. (by Malaysia-Basketball.com)

 Is the tournament really for top Asian clubs?
Similarly to previous editions, this year tournament created some controversy, if it's really the competition for top Asian clubs. We were missing here the teams from some very important leagues, while some others treat this event not too seriously. Here I am talking about Chinese CBA Champion. Top 5 teams from Chinese CBA would be definitely the main candidates to get the Asian Club Championship Cup. But no Chinese team (not including Hong Kong) was participating in the event. What happened to some other strong teams from former Soviet Union republichs, located in Asia? The other thing worth to mention is the attitude of some national federations towards this event. Korea and Philippines could send for sure much better teams, both countries having very strong domestic professional leagues. But instead of that they sent some sort of selection combined fo second-level players (with the high respect to players attitude). But here the problem could be related to the fact that the federations are powerless and are simply unable to arrange it with professional leagues, which are more focused on domestic competition, than on representing the country internationally. But let's try to imagine how strong the Asian Club Championships could be if all of the countries send the best what they have... Another issue worth to mention is a huge progress of basketball in Arabic countries. The results of Muslim clubs confirm that tendency, and it's very likely they will take the top positions of these tournaments for many years.
But maybe here a good solution would be to create something similar like a model used in Europe, where Euroleague games is the most important club competition on the continent for many years. Every country is pround of having their representative in that league, and Euroleague is the place where top European pro players are playing and can be watched for the whole season. Here a crucial problem to solve could be distances, since it's hard to imagine travelling between Lebanon and Japan twice per week. So maybe instead of that use the solution which is implemented in Latin America - Liga Sudamericana.
Anyway, we should expect stable and fast impprovement in Asian Club competitions. It's not an easy process, so it can take years to find perfect solution. But Asia, with it's biggest population among all other continents, is considered as the biggest potential in world of basketball.

 Al Rayyan crowned Champions in 13th ABC Champions Cup - May 8, 2002
Al Rayyan of Qatar won the 13th ABC Champions Cup presented by adidas, gaining sweet revenge over last year’s winners Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabai with a thrilling 92-78 victory in the final at MABA Stadium tonight. American point guard Johnson Kristaan dazzled with some brilliant plays in a pulsating game as he contributed 32 points for Al Rayyan, who were beaten by two points in over-time in last year’s final. It was Al Rayyan’s first triumph in the ABC Champions Cup presented by adidas and also their team’s second major success in recent weeks after winning the Gulf Championship where they also beat Al Ittihad.
By asianbasketball.com
Roll of Honour
adidas Most Valuable Player: Johnson Kristaan (Al Rayyan)
Molten Best Three-point Shooter: Son Gyu-wan (Sangmu Phoenix)
adidas Most Valuable Coach: Ahmed Abdul Hadi (Al Rayyan)

 Last Day - May 5, 2002
Final:
Al Rayyan (QAT) - Al Ittihad (KSA) 92-78
(Johnson Kristaan 32, Yasseen Ismail 15, Stais Baone 17 - Henderson 14)
3rd Place Game:
Al Wahda (SYR) - Sangmu Phoenix (KOR) 104-63
(Andre Pitts 30, Malik Alsamer 22 - Jun Il-woo 13)
5th Place Game:
Sagesse (LEB) - Petronas (MAS) 119-110
(Willard Sherell Ford 45 - Jamal Livingston 39, K. Satyaseelan 25)

 Results - May 4, 2002
Semi-finals:
Al Ittihad (KSA) - Al Wahda (SYR) 92-86
(Milton Henderson 35, Adel Aljuhani 15, Ali Almagrabi 15, God Shammgod 9 - Andre Pitts 28)
Al Rayyan (QAT) - Sangmu Phoenix (KOR) 99-70
(Johnson Kristaan 36 -)
7th-8th play-off:
Spring Cooking Oil (PHI) - Al Manama (BRN) 95-75
9th-10th play-off:
Winling (HK) - Punjab Police (IND) 86-67

 Results - May 2, 2002
Group A:
Al Ittihad (KSA) - Spring Cooking Oil (PHI) 98-86
(God Shammgod 30, Milton Henderson 30 - )
Sagesse (LEB) - Winling (HK) 134-68
Group B:
Al Rayyan (QAT) - Petronas (MAS) 98-73
(Yasseen Ismail 28, Johnson Kristaan 29 - )
Al Wahda (SYR) - Al Manama (BHR) 98-78

 Results - May 1, 2002
Group A:
Al Ittihad (KSA) - Sangmu Phoenix (KOR) 107-99
(Henderson 39, Shammgod 33 - )
Al Sagesse (LEB) - Spring Cooking Oil (PHI) 123-94
Group B:
Al Rayyan (QAT) - Punjab Police (IND) 113-75
(Yasseen Ismail 30, Johnson Kristaan 25 -)
Al Wahda (SYR) - Petronas (MAS) 86-78

 Results - April 30, 2002
Group A:
Spring Cooking Oil (PHI) - Winling (HKG) 107-105 (over-time)
(Parks 33, Robinson 32, Luna 5 - Paterson 32, Yung Kam Wah 19)
Sangmu Phoenix (KOR) - Al Sagesse (LEB) 99-97
(Son Gyu-wan 27, Jung Hun-jong 20 - )
Group B:
Al Manama (BHR) - Punjab Police (IND) 98-85
(Akeli Jackson 33 - Gagnesh Kumar 33)
Al Rayyan (QAT) - Al Wahda (SYR) 95-87
(Johnson Kristaan 27, Yasseen Ismail 24, Hashim Zaidan 24 -)

 Results - April 29, 2002
Group A:
Winling (HK) - Sangmu Phoenix (KOR) 99-77
(Eric Dailey 30, Scott Paterson 30 - Jung Hun-jong 16)
Al Ittihad (KSA) - Al Sagesse (LEB) 102-89
(Milton Henderson 30, Al Almagrabi 28, God Shammgod 6+11ast -)
Group B:
Al Wahda (SYR) - Punjab Police (IND) 133-69
(Andre Pitts 42, Rudwan Hasaballah 21 -)
Petronas (MAS) - Al Manama (BHR) 87-73
(K. Satyseelan 26 -)

 Results - April 28, 2002
Group A:
Al Ittihad (KSA) - Winling (HK) 100-90
(Shammgod 35, Henderson 29 - Eric Dailey 18)
Sangmu Phoenix (KOR) - Spring Cooking Oil (PHI) 101-96
(Son Gyu-wan 39 - Bobby Parks 29, Geremy Robinson 29)
Group B:
Al Rayyan (QAT) - Al Manama (BHR) 94-92
(Johnson Kristaan 28, Yasseen Ismail 16 -)
Petronas (MAS) - Punjab Police (IND) 117-90
(Satyaseelan 32, Livingston 31, Stiff 17 -)