Qatar to parade young lineup vs Gilas

MANILA, Philippines – Qatar will be fielding the same lineup it sent to the court against Australia when they face the Philippines on Monday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

“It’s the best we’ve got at the moment,” shared head coach Tim Lewis, who couldn’t hide his disappointment that six of his regular players, including point guards Mansour Al Hadary, Abdulrahman Saad, Erfan Saeed and Clinton Johnson, are unavailable due to injuries. 

“I believe that had we had complete lineup, we would have built on the momentum we had against Iraq and given other teams a better fight.”

Lewis, of course, isn’t conceding the match to the Philippines.

“We will try our best to win the game. That remains the ultimate objective. If we can keep it close then we have a shot,” added the Briton, who coached Thailand in the last SEABA championships, after which he worked rather briefly as a consultant to Gilas Pilipinas and for Talk ‘N Text.

Lewis disclosed his lineup for the match — guards Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, Momar Gueye, Moustafa Ahmed Lashin, Raslan Rashid Al-Abdulla and Khaled Mohamed Abdelbaset; forwards Abdelrahman Abdelhaleem, Faris Advic, Suliman Abdi Khalid and Tanguy Ngombo, who is their naturalized player; and centers Mohd Mohmmed, Emir Mujkic and Nasser Al-Rayes.

Ngombo, who came up with Gilas veteran Marcio Lassiter in 2011 albeit for Qatar, is one of the veterans of the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships held in Manila along with Abdi.

The lineup that will face the Filipinos has an average age of 24 years. Al-Abdulla is the youngest at 17 and is still in college along with a few others. Mohmmed and Abdi are above 30 years.

The Philippines, on the other hand, is much older with an average age of 31, with Taulava the oldest at 45.

“This is as close as to a patch up squad that we have,” summed up Lewis. “We will play for pride.”