Karami: Politics, Sectarianism Destroyed Lebanese Basketball
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Caretaker Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karami lamented on Friday the “death” of Lebanese basketball after the world governing body for basketball, FIBA, is likely to suspend the Lebanese union's membership, which will lead to the exclusion of the national team from international tournaments.
He said: “Politics and sectarianism ruined Lebanon's basketball.”
He explained that FIBA had issued a warning to Lebanon to clarify a number of violations otherwise it would face suspension.
The violations included political meddling in matches and legal disputes between local teams and the union, which is a violation of the regulations of the international union, Karami stated.
Lebanon's failure to comply with the warning will prompt FIBA to suspend its membership, he added.
It is set to make an announcement shortly.
“The Youth and Sports Ministry tried hard to avert this development, but none of the officials, whether in the union or among politicians, responded to them,” Karami continued.
“It turned out that petty interests held sway over general ones,” he lamented.
“Basketball in Lebanon has become the victim of the general atmosphere in the country where politics have ruined everything and sectarianism has ruined everything,” he said.
“Sports, cultural, artistic, and economic events have not been spared,” noted the minister.
“I will no longer issue calls to any side to assist Lebanese basketball because they are no longer useful,” Karami stressed.
FIBA had given Lebanon to Friday for it to comply with demands that it resolve its internal problems, including disputes within the union that led to the suspension of the local league.
The suspension of Lebanon's membership will prevent the national team from taking part in the Asian Championship set to take place in the Philippines in August.
The Lebanese national team, which had been taking part in the 35th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament held in Taiwan, will now be forced to withdraw.
It will be replaced by Iraq.
12 July 2013, 18:48
05
wouldnt be a bad idea RFT... best of seven m8 vs. m14... would be fun to see alot of our politicians in shorts and cut off jerseys... but alas.. im afraid they would just agree to steal the ball.
12 July 2013, 19:32
02
politics in sports = no sports.
winning/losing is common in sports, but not in lebanese dirty politics. no politician would 'sacrifice' himself in front of 'his supporters' for the benefit of the sport or his country; he comes 1st.
RIP lebanese basketball.
12 July 2013, 19:43
73
Oh please, stop acting like you people care. You are all partly responsible for this by continuing to hate your opponents and support your side as if it's all righteous and noble.
Just look at yourselves. Someone is crying out loud that we can't even play a basketball game anymore because of sectarianism and division, and your response? You start talking about m8 and m14. Shameful.
12 July 2013, 20:53
04
as a filipino... we will miss having to contend with the Lebanon team. your National Team is one of the toughest that philippine NT has ever fought in the last few years. you guys always brings out the best competitor the philippines has ever had. its a shame that they can't compete this coming august.
13 July 2013, 00:14
31
Idiots indeed, and the same goes to some of the repeating commentators on this sight.
12 July 2013, 22:31
04
Lebanon is a pothole, and so is the whole ME. Ppl are gonna criticize me for sayin this, I don care, grew up there, thajjarna many times, 2 houses were bombed and then cleaned out by militias. It will never get better, only gonna get worse. Best thing, split the country into 4 regions, christians, shias, sunnis, and druze. I think that is the best option in order to save lebanon...but that will never happen as long as ppl support the so called puppets we have.
13 July 2013, 00:56
01
The whole country is going that way....Imagine Divided Irak is taking Lebanon spot.
What a shame and what an embarrassment....
Of course no politician is listening as they are deaf and blind.
This might teach them a lesson but I doubt as no one listen , not one hears and no one cares.
13 July 2013, 02:26
03
I'll promote your idea on the condition that we use this forum to resolve this nasty conflict between the two Islamic ideologies inside Lebanon and avoid further bloodshed, deteriorating economy and the overall well being of the "good" people of Lebanon.
13 July 2013, 02:52
21
All the credit goes to our best good-for-nothing corrupt president-by-parachute, may God bless him and extend his term and our days of misery under his presidency forever and ever, amen.
13 July 2013, 06:09
00
What a shame, seeing my beloved country slowly falling into pieces. Even worse is that after all what happened and what is still happening, people never learn from their mistakes and still promote violence and hatred by following some stupid politician that only cares about his pocket or having the most power. worst of all is those same people hating on their neighbours/childhood friends just because some idiot gang leader said that being from another religion or having another idea is wrong..open your eyes people, all the signs are there that Syria's war is slowly creeping to lebanon and people are still thinking abt m8 and m14 who the army belongs to and talking Sh*t about eachtoher. Wake up...we want to live, and i want to come back to my country and live again.
18 July 2013, 21:40
00
i have seen u all saying rip lbl, it is a shame, bla bla bla etc........what i going to say now is what every lebanese basketball fan will say: THIS IS NOT THE END. This is the beginning of a new basketball era that will lead us to success. We are the only ones who can make the differnce, beleive in ur team keep faith and all will be good. Fiba can't take our love to lbl away. Fiba can't take our dreams away !!!!! We will be back stronger than before. Good luck NT
