Basketball in Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

Dubai: Olympic Club, Algeria, sealed the fourth semifinal spot with an emphatic 82-43 win over Orthodox Club, Jordan, on the final day for group matches in the 13th Women's Arab Clubs' Basketball Championship on Monday.

The semifinal line-up for the week-long competition was sorted out with the first match itself yesterday with Olympic drawn to take on defending champions Antranik of Lebanon, while Sporting Club, Egypt will challenge Al Wahda, Syria in tomorrow's semifinals.

Today is a rest day after a gruelling five days of group games.

There was no doubt about the superiority of the Algerians as they exploited their better physical build to overcome the Jordanians. And leading the charge for Olympic was their highly-influential Kanza Faroumi.

Faroumi topscored with 20 points, including a couple of first quarter three-pointers to deny the Jordanians any chance for a fightback. Faroumi had a couple of long-rangers for her six points in the first quarter, and added another nine in the second to end with 15 points at the end of halftime.

Lending solid support was playmaker Rashida Balbadi entering the double-digit mark with five points in each of the two quarters.

The Algerians were severe on an erring Jordanian defence in the second quarter, scoring a game-high 28 points. In contrast, the entire Jordanian outfit managed just nine and eight points respectively in the two sessions of play.

By the end of the third quarter, and despite coach Jamal Khalifa resting a couple of his main players, Olympic were steaming away with a 64-25 lead, Nadia Madani outscoring all with seven points.

Orthodox managed to claw their way back into the game during the final quarter, scoring an all-time high of 16 points, thanks to Dana Fada's and Rouby Gebsh's four points each and another five from Dina Nasser.

But top-scoring for Orthodox Club was Ghonwa Kabani with 14 points, including one from outside the circle.

Results
Olympic bt Orthodox 82-43.

Wednesday's Semifinals:
At 5.30pm: Antranik, Lebanon vs Olympic, Algeria.
At 7.30pm: Sporting, Egypt vs Al Wahda, Syria.

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[Al-khiyal]

..."It was a tough match as every team wants to defeat the defending champions," Antranik coach Shafiq Akiki said after the match.

"But it is not that we were not ready for the Algerians. We knew they play very physical and we had prepared ourselves for such an onslaught," he added....

Algeria's Olympic Club loses out to Antranik of Lebanon in bruising semifinal

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DUBAI — Antranic of Lebanon were in awesome form as they overcame Al Wahda of Syria 76-59 in the final to claim the 13th Arab Women’s Basketball Championship title at the Al Ahli sports hall here on Friday night.....

.....Earlier, Olympic of Algeria defeated Egypt’s Sporting 85-69 to take third place in a playoff. The Algerian side led 23-18 in the opening quarter, 20-16 in the second but their opponents narrowly took the third 19-18. Olympic, however, came back strongly in the final quarter to win 24-16 and the match.....

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[Al-khiyal]

Algerian club DRB Staoueli became Maghrebian basketball club champion Wednesday (November 29th) when it defeated Libyan Ittihad of Tripoli in Algiers. DRB Staoueli reached the title with three victories - over ASPTT Algiers, Ittihad Tangier and Ittihad of Tripoli. ASPTT Algiers took second place and Ittihad Tangier placed third.

Algerian DRB Staoueli wins Maghrebian basketball championship

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BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - Former NBA player Kent Benson will lead an Indiana delegation to Algeria to coach youth basketball as part of a U.S. anti-terrorism effort.

The former Indiana University All-American and 11-year NBA veteran will leave next week for a nine-day stay in the North African country, which has steadily emerged from an Islamic insurgency that killed more than 150,000 people in the 1990s.

"The whole program is basically about the U.S. government trying to help with counterterrorism, or at least what we'd call "at-risk" youth ... by getting them involved in sports and by teaching leadership, sportsmanship, diversity and tolerance," Benson said Thursday.

"The hope is that it will help keep the kids out of the street and decrease their chance of becoming a terrorist," he told The Times-Mail of Bedford.

The program is sponsored by the NCAA, the National Youth Sports Corp. and the Indiana Center for Cultural Exchange, along with the Algerian Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Algerian Basketball Federation.

Assistant coaches will include Mark Morin, a middle school coach at nearby Oolitic, and two of Benson's friends. Morin's wife, Monica, and Benson's oldest daughter, Andrea, also will assist the program.

A group linked to al-Qaida staged seven near-simultaneous bomb attacks in Algeria on Tuesday, targeting police in several towns east of Algiers and killing six people, officials said.

"We're invited by the United States government, so the U.S. Embassy will have all the security handled," Benson said. "There is a travel advisory, but it is for people who are traveling on their own. We're a guest of the government. ... We've been assured we'll have all the security needed.

"It's going to be a wonderful experience teaching basketball to these kids and spreading goodwill through the game of basketball."

American delegation heads to Algeria for youth basketball program

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The Algerian Basketball Federation (FABB) will sign French trainer Azzedine Labouiz to prepare the national team for the upcoming All African Games, to be held between July 11th and 23rd in Algiers, according to FABB president Mustapha Berraf.

Berraf said the Algerian federation has reached an agreement with their French colleagues and the French sports ministry. FABB is awaiting formal approval from the Algerian sports ministry to finalise the deal.

Azzedine Labouiz to become coach of Algerian national basketball team

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Algeria's national junior basketball team won the 8th International Tournament in Martigues, France held over the weekend, the Algerian basketball federation announced Tuesday (April 10th). In the final, Algeria defeated Lithuanian team Palanga 78-71. Numerous teams took part in the event including two national teams, those of Algeria and Armenia, 2006 tournament winner Sisak of Croatia, Lithuania's Palanga, Spain's Murcia and 2006 Flanders Junior Cup winner Vilvorde of Belgium, in addition to French teams from Martinique and Martigues. The Algerian team made it to the finals after beating Sisak, Martigues and Murcia in the group stage and Vilvorde in the semis.

Algerian national junior basketball team wins international tournament in France