The 7th Fazza Wheelchair Basketball Tournament was on Wednesday claimed by a German team made entirely of Under 19 players. To a casual observer, it may have seemed another case of Germany excelling at and dominating yet another sport.
But there is more to it than that, and along the way they had to overcome more physical teams with far more experience. In the final at Al Ahli Club, they beat Thailand 58-49 after an almighty struggle.
“It was a great game, we had to put up a big fight,” said Germany coach Peter Richarz. “Thailand gave our defence some problems in the second half, but I’m very proud of my boys.”
Richarz saw this tournament as a chance to toughen up his team.
“For my team this was a very important event because we had an opportunity to develop our performances,” he said. “We had many good games, it is good experience for their careers, so I’m very glad about this tournament. It was very well organised. Some teams are a little bit lower [standard], but some are like in Europe.”
Now the Germans have set their sights on next year’s European Championship, in which star player Leon Schoneberg will again play a major role. In Dubai, especially in the final, he was outstanding.
“It was great for us because we’re a young team,” Schoneberg said. “The players in the other teams were very good, and it was tough for us because they play very differently. It’s more [technical] in Europe. Here, it’s much harder and physical.”
Wheelchair basketball can be physically unforgiving. That, plus the age difference, could have worked against the Germans, but they found a way to compensate.
“We are shorter than others and we are younger,” Schoneberg said. “So we have to show some more cleverness to get a chance to win against other teams. I think it was bit difficult.”
The youngster also appreciated the strides being taken by the Arab teams in the competition.
“We played here two years ago against Oman and the UAE and I think they are much better now.”
The Gulf teams are not the only ones to benefit from the tournament. On Wednesday, Morocco overcame Kuwait in the bronze medal match. It was tough adjusting to the standards according to their coach Steven Kane.
“Our objective is to qualify for the Paralympics so we had a meeting this morning to try and solve our problems,” the Englishman said. “Before, everybody was arguing among themselves and that wasn’t good. So I said today we have to have confidence and we have to support each other.”
The talk worked and Morocco beat Kuwait 71-44.
“Towards the end of the game you could see it.” Kane added. “We started out very nervous because we are trying to run a new system, which is more European, it’s something new for them.”
Wheelchair basketball is not well-funded in most nations, and Kane saw this tournament as a welcome opportunity for his team.
“Normally we have a tournament in Morocco only once a year, so it’s been a great experience for us,” he said. “For the Moroccans, the standard here is very high because there’s no true championship or league there. The team don’t have enough money so the players maybe play four or five games a year.”
Still, the man who has been in charge of the team for two years believes there is room for improvement.
“My objective was to finish in the top three which we’ve achieved,” Kane added. “I think we could have done a lot better because basically we just lacked the experience. We lost two games, but it was only by four and five points.”
The Egyptians, who beat the UAE 72-50 to claim fifth place, could also point to a tournament of what might have been.
“We lost our first match 85-83 to Thailand, by one basket only,” top scorer Ahmad Fathi said. “Everyone thought Egypt could make it to the final but we lost on small margins. We lost to Thailand, beat Australia but then lost to Morocco due to small errors. If we had dealt with our mistakes we could have made the final.”
Fathi, 34, who scored 18 points against the UAE, says you never stop learning the sport, even at his age.
“It’s my first time at Fazza and against teams from Asia and Europe. Germany are wonderful, these boys are 18,” said the man who played professionally in Algeria for two years. “I will learn from them and I hope that we keep playing outside Egypt so we gain experience from playing against these teams, it improves your performances and educates you.”
Fathi is not finished yet; he and Egypt will now focus on reaching Rio next summer.
“I’ve played in many regional tournaments,” Fathi said. “Until now I haven’t been fortunate enough to play in a world championship or an Olympics. But my dreams are not over yet.”
The final day of the competition had started with the news that the Australian team had pulled out of the tournament leaving them to finish in eighth and final place, with Oman claiming seventh.
akhaled@thenational.ae
