1st West Asian SuperLeague Finals: SABA (IRI) VS Sagesse (LIB)

[sinobball2]

http://www.asia-basket.com/sup/sup.asp

Finally Asia has an international league in the format of the Euroleague: WASL. Seven teams from Lebanon (2), IR Iran (2), Syria (2) and Iraq are divided into two groups for regular season. In the playoffs home/away games are also implemented:

There is very good news for Asian basketball and I really hope we can also have one in East Asia (China/Japan/Korea) and Southeast Asia(Philippines/Australia/New Zealand). At least this is a start.

As of the two teams, SABA Batteries will be led by ex-NBA behemoth Garth Joseph (217-C-1973) (Yeah Americans in Iran!), and 2 young Iranian NT players Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami (202-F-1982) and Hamed Afagh Eslamieh (189-G-1983). Sagesse is also star-studded, with "Asian MJ" Fadi El Khatib (198-G/F-1979), as well as ex-NBAers Alvin Sims (193-G-1974) and Jarod Ward (206-F-1976). Did I mention they also two veterans of the Lebanese team, ex-captain Elie Mechantaf (193-G-1970) and ex-NCAA center Paul Khoury (206-C-1968)?

Looking forward to the series...

 

[jramoyo2]

wow west asian basketball seems always exciting!

the Philippines/Australia/New Zealand part might be difficult to push through, australia is like 9 hours away from the philippines and not may philippine teams can afford the expenses of such travel.

 

[Lebanon2]

This tournament was great untill the last game Sagesse (Lebanon) v/s Jalaa (Syria). 3/4 of the games were very close and exciting with lots of ups and downs . In Syria, Lebanon and Jordan the courts were always fully packed . In the first edition, the first round games were played on a neutral court, but starting next season there will be home and away games in the first round also.

Now back to the last Sagesse v/s Jalaa, Sagesse had the ideal start and led 25-8 at the end of the first quarter. Jalaa made a huge come back in the 2nd quarter and led 39-38 at half time. But in the middle of the third quarter (the score was 45-41 for Sagesse) Jalaa withdrew complaining that the Greek referees Georgios Tannasis and Costantinos Coromillas were biased to Sagesse. Thus Sagesse qualified to the final to face Saba from Iran.

Saba will have the home court advantage and the first game will be next Wednesday.
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Fix Ps3

 

[sinobball2]

Man... Though I would imagine it has something to do with political sentiments?

It appears WASL even has an English website:
http://www.waslsports.com

 

[Lebanon2]

Yes this is WASL's website but it is still unfinished. You will be able to find in this website all the news , statistics and pictures .
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Fake Weed

 

[Saskibaloia2]

wow west asian basketball seems always exciting!

the Philippines/Australia/New Zealand part might be difficult to push through, australia is like 9 hours away from the philippines and not may philippine teams can afford the expenses of such travel.

Mate, it is possible. If the Singaporean club does well in our league and that the Philippines shows interest I think so. The Singaporean club won't be made up of Singaporeans rather of Australians. It is only the license that is given. Asians would still be considered as imports. In my opinion that obstacle of holting an expansion into the Philippines is that the PBA is very strong in terms of interest from the Filipinos & that the Filipinos would not want their team 95% of it's players being from Australia. I am sure that if the license for an AUS NBL club was extended to your shores the Filipino management would want that Filipino players be considered as local players (like the Australians in the AUS NBL) not as imports.
That would be awesome. 10 teams from Australia, 1 Kiwi club (NZ Breakers), 1 from Singapore and 1 from the Philippines.
Philippines definitely would have the financial backing of many corporate executives such as San Miguel's Danding Cojuangco since he already has assets and business interests in Australia. San Miguel as you already know heavily invests in basketball hence, I'm sure they'd heavily invest in a project like this.