Khatib eyes title clash with China in Asiad men's basketball
3/12/2006 12:17
Fadi El Khatib, who scored 34 points in 28 minutes to lead a Lebanese rout
of Uzbekistan 106-70 in Doha yesterday, expected to meet China again in the
men's basketball final of the Doha Asian Games.
"We will meet them in the
final hopefully, it will be a good game," said Khatib, who also contributed five
assists and three steals for Lebanon's victory in the second round Group B
match.
"But at first we have to win against Japan and Chinese Taipei so that
we can qualify for the next round."
Khatib agreed that NBA star center Yao
Ming's absence increased Lebanon's chance to break an 0-5 record against the
Chinese since 2000. In their last encounter, China beat Lebanon 77-61 in the
final of the 2005 Asian Championship in Doha.
"China will be affected (by
Yao's absence) because Yao is a big player," Khatib said. "Wang Zhizhi is a
great player, but Yao Ming is so good that nobody can take his place."
The
Asian runner-up, who beat Venezuela and France at the World Championship this
fall, proved too much for Uzbekistan. Racing to an astonishing 17-0 start in the
second-round Group B match, Lebanon improved to 67-28 at the half time and never
looked back.
"Offensively, we have no problem. Defensively, we have a little
problem, because we are tired and we have only trained together three times for
the Asian Games," Khatib said.
"But we are ready to represent Lebanon. In the
first game, we did good. And I think the group matches will help us prepare for
the next round."
Joseph Vogel contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds for
Lebanon in 22 minutes.
Twelve teams are competing in the second round
round-robins in two groups with top four finishers from each group qualifying
for the quarter-finals.
China will play Kazakhstan later on Saturday in
another match of Group B.
Xinhua
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