The basketball competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games will feature underdog Hong Kong in place of favorite Lebanon.
That’s good news for gold medalist Chu Il-seung-ho.
As of today (Aug. 18), MyInfo, the 현금홀덤사이트 Hangzhou Asian Games information site, no longer lists Lebanon, which was originally assigned to Group B of the men’s basketball competition.
In their place is Hong Kong, who failed to qualify for the Asian Games.
Lebanon was originally expected to battle China for first and second place in Group B.
If Lebanon had finished second behind the hosts, they would have faced Chu Il-seung’s team in the quarterfinals.
Chu Il-seung’s side competes in Group D, which means that if they finish first, they will play the winner of the quarterfinals between the second-place team from Group B and the third-place team from Group A.
If Lebanon slipped to second place in Group B, it would face South Korea, as none of the three teams in Group A – Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, minus Iran, the favorites to top the group – could threaten the Lebanese.
In Lebanon’s place came Hong Kong, which is also categorized as an underdog in Asia, and in Group B, it was more likely that Chinese Taipei would finish second in the group and reach the quarterfinals instead of Lebanon.
For Chu Il-seung-ho, the odds were stacked in his favor and he avoided the risk of facing a powerhouse like Lebanon in the quarterfinals.
Lebanon finished with a 2-3 record at the FIBA World Cup 2023, which concluded on Tuesday.
They put on a solid show against European powerhouse France, which is loaded with NBA players, including a close game midway through the fourth quarter.
Lebanon, anchored by Wael Araji, considered the best guard in Asia, also made it all the way to the finals of last year’s FIBA Asia Cup.
Although they lost by two points in the final, they were able to hold their own against Australia, a global basketball powerhouse.
With their recent international success, Lebanon was one of the favorites to win the tournament.
However, with the after-effects of the FIBA World Cup still lingering in the squad, the Lebanese national basketball team ultimately decided to forgo the Asian Games.
“We are not participating in the Asian Games because some of the players (on the basketball team) are injured, and we have some internal commitments in October,” Pierre Zalkh, president of the Lebanese Sports Council, told Chinese state news agency Xinhua.