Men's basketball: Qatar face China in ultimate test

Just hours before the Closing Ceremony on Friday 15 December, a stone's throw away from the Khalifa Stadium, the ballplayers will be hoping their energy flickers just a little longer and the lights do not go out on their tournament too early.

The hosts certainly have worked hard to get to the showpiece. They began their journey on 30 November in the prelims with a victory over Syria, and topped a group which also contained Jordan, IR Iran, Bahrain and Korea.

It was in the knockout stage where the nerves have been jangling, however. Qatar needed two doses of overtime to squeak through against Chinese Taipei in a match which they were very close to losing several times. They came from behind to beat IR Iran 67-64 in the semifinal in another match which hinged on a couple of plays.

China will be a tough proposition. They have won seven out of seven in Doha. The Chinese machine has history on its side too; prior to their defeat in overtime to Korea in Busan four years ago in the final the team had won four consecutive Asian Games gold. Until 2006 Qatar had never finished higher then ninth in an Asian Games.

While Qatar have been edging through in comparison it has been plain sailing for the Chinese who qualified for the final by beating Jordan 86-58.

"China have been a big team in Asia for a long time. This is the first time for Qatar to play in the Asian Games final. They have a lot more experience than us," said Mohammed Saleem Abdulla, one of Qatar's players.

On paper, China should win. They are ranked 11th in the world and have the two outstanding players of the tournament so far in Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi. Qatar have their own hero, though, in Saad Abdulrahman Ali who has scored more three pointers than any other player in the competition and has a success rate of 56 percent from outside the arc.

The Chinese coach knows Qatar are not to be taken lightly. "They play very athletic basketball," said Jonas Kazlauskas when asked how his team would match up against the home side. "They certainly have very good three point shooters, they have a good coach who has a good team," said the Lithuanian.

Joey Stiebing is Qatar's coach. The former University of New Orleans supremo believes that beating the five-time champions is just a matter of time and sees no reason why today cannot be that day. Much has changed since he took the reins in 2002.

"When I arrived here four years ago, everybody told me that Qatar cannot beat China. It'll take us 20-25 years people were saying to me, now we meet then on an equal footing", said the American.

"But it is not something that happened overnight. It has taken four years for us to build this program to where it is. I think we still have a way to go and I think we can get better. We have stuck together and it's been a great run."

Stiebing, who was successful as a college coach in the United States, has built the foundations of the team on defence and determination.

"We play hard and we defend," he said. "If you look at the score against Chinese Taipei [in the quarterfinal], I don't think we defended that well. We gave up over 90 points. Normally if we give up over 80 points, we don't win.

"However, our guys really stick together and they never quit. Even when we were down by nine points in the fourth quarter, we kept battling. I'm very proud of them," Stiebing said, recalling the epic and slightly fortuitous 103-96 last eight victory.

"Anytime you want to climb a mountain you may as well climb the best and China is the best. They have a nice combination of players. It'll be a tough game for us." He also added: "We may be a little more athletic than China."

"China have experience and they have size but we are quite similar to China, we are not fast like Korea or Japan. I think we have a good chance to win the final," thinks Yasseen Muosa, the Qatari captain.

His teammate Malek Salem Abdulla also thinks there is a chance the host could spring a surprise. "Against China we have to depend on our defence because they are very good offensively. They can be defeated. We've come into this tournament taking it one game at a time and so far we have been getting the victories."

The final is preceded by Jordan against IR Iran for the bronze medal.

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006