Lebanon’s AL Riyadi Beirut gets a $ 200,000 bonus on clinching the 2011 FIBA Asia Champions Cup
The hard work put in by Lebanese club champions, Al Riyadi Beirut, in the period prior to the 2011 FIBA Asia Champions Cup, not only won them the tournament, but also won them a huge financial appreciation from their owner Hisham Jaroudi.
Hisham had flown all the way from Beirut to Manila, to watch his club play its first final game of the FIBA Asia Championship Cup. Fuelled with the determination to land their first FIBA title, the team of Lebanon showcased an outstanding comeback down the stretch. Al Riyadi smashed the two times defending champions Mahram of Iran with 34 points in the last 10 minutes to clinch a brilliant 91-82 victory. Riyadi’s owner Hisham wasted no time to appreciate his team’s performance and announced 2,00,000 dollars bonus for the club.
Despite of a sore back, the captain of the National team El Cheikh Fadi El Khatib truly had a magnificent game. He erupted with a game-high 41 points, including six daggers from downtown, to spearhead the Lebanese team to the historic win. El Khatib utterly dominated the proceedings in the second half of the game and scored 29 of his 41 points in the last two quarters.
He said after the game, “I can’t express my feelings man. When you wait for something for a long time, it’s always sweeter. I couldn’t event walk properly this morning. But I knew I had to take charge in this game. When I returned from the locker room in the half-time, I knew I will do it. And I did it.”
Al Riyadi’s coach Fouad Abouchakra who only lacked this title in his resume was very happy to achieve the feat. “I have it on my CV finally. This was one thing the team has waited for way too long. We came in with the determination to win this year. Nothing less than the Championship would have satisfied us,”
The Lebanese were the only unbeaten team in the tournament. They not only beat Mahram in the finals, but also squeaked past them in the group B game. Even though the bonus Al Riyadi received from the owner must have boosted the moral of the team, however nothing can be compared to the feat Lebanese team accomplished on Sunday.
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