Youth basketball team scores 1st victory in Iran

The national youth basketball team scored its first victory on Thursday in the Asian Under 20 Championship in Iran against Saudi Arabia, which gave Lebanon the hope of qualifying to the championship's second round.

The Lebanese team appeared to be in a much better shape than in Wednesday's match, when they lost to South Korea 89-64.

The solid Lebanese defense translated into a strong offense, giving the lead to the national youth 13-5.

Up by five points at the end of the first quarter, Lebanon's Robert Bou Dagher was doing an outstanding job in netting points and dragging the Saudi defense into committing fouls.

However, in the middle of the quarter, haphazard offensive foul-calls landed Lebanese Roy Samaha into trouble. When the national team's coach, Ivan Ideshko, contested the call, the referee called a technical foul against his team on account of his aggressive demeanor.

In total, 14 offensive fouls were called against Lebanon. This unusually high number caused the Lebanese bench to criticize the refereeing as biased.

The Saudi players tried to stop the clock at the end of the second quarter by purposefully committing fouls, hoping that the Lebanese team would miss the free throws. However, their plan failed and Lebanon wrapped up the game 76-68.

Lebanon will play Kazakhstan on Saturday. The two leading teams in this championship qualify to the World Championship in Argentina in August 2005.

By Hania Taan – Daily Star Lebanon