FIBA Asia Championship 2013 awarded to Lebanon

It was announced yesterday that Lebanon will host the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship for Men. The vote by FIBA Asia’s Executive Committee was held to determine which of the applications they would accept between Lebanon, Iran and the Philippines.

The FIBA Asia Championships have never been hosted by Lebanon and with the quality of their current squad, this could be their year to take the top prize after finishing second in 2001, 2005 and 2007.

Fadi El Khatib, Lebanon’s most visible and well-know player, submitted the bid. El Khatib has played for the Lebanese at the last three FIBA World Championships.

“We had excellent bids from three top teams in FIBA Asia,” said FIBA Asia President Sheikh Saud bin Ali Al-Thani.

“This is a sign that FIBA Asia has made progress in its organization and administration. It is unfortunate that there is only one event for us to award and it has go to only one of the three bidders.”

While winning the FIBA Asia Championship comes with much reward, the 2013 edition of the competition will be even more important as the top three teams will earn the right to play in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, the inaugural edition.

The Executive Committee has also been in Japan this week monitoring the events around the FIBA Asia Cup competition since Japan and Thailand have submitted bids for the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships for Women.

“We have two contenders – Thailand and Japan,” Hagop Khajirian, FIBA Asia Secretary General said.

“We have hosted events, including the currently ongoing 4th FIBA Asia Cup, in Japan for the last two successive years.

“FIBA Asia believes in having as many countries to host its events as possible. Hence we will first evaluate Thailand’s bid.”