No replacement for Lebanon, says Hagod Khajirian

FIBA Asia said on Friday that they couldn't find a team that could replace Lebanon in the upcoming FIBA Asia Championship this August. Initial reports said that either Iraq or UAE will take the spot but unfortunately, both teams begged off due to lack of preparation.

“The Lebanese NF has been suspended by FIBA as of July 11 with immediate effect. Going by the FIBA Internal Regulations no team or official from any of the suspended National Federations can participate in any FIBA competition,” explained FIBA Asia Secretary General Hagop Khajirian.

“We tried our best to find a replacement team, but given the short period of time available we couldn’t find any,” he added.

This will reduce the participating teams to 15 which will give Hong Kong, Japan and Qatar an automatic spot on the second round of the tourney.

As for the schedule of the games, Hagod said “We may move a couple of games from the Ninoy Aquino Stadium to fill the gap left by the games Lebanon were scheduled to play. We are in the process of finalizing this.”