13 Nov. 2015 – Following the epic win in Hariri’s basketball tournament final, many expected Riyadi to go far in the Arab championship, despite falling in the toughest group. Unfortunately, the Lebanese team lost 2 games in the first round and therefore, was knocked out.
Wael Arakji, one of the club’s best players and perhaps the best youngster in the country, had many things to say following Riyadi’s exit.
First, Arakji stated that the fact that the team performed badly could not be hidden, but the fans should know that they were tired as there wasn’t enough time to recover from the Hariri tournament.
Moreover, he said that losing is not the end of the world, every team has ups and downs and Riyadi happened to go through a down during the championship. Wael then continued by addressing the fans who said some players do not deserve to wear the yellow jersey and told them that they were utterly wrong, with the performance in Hariri’s tournament proving it since many players were playing despite injuries and still managed to defeat one of the best teams in the final. Also, in his opinion, the foreigners are not to blame as the whole team was bad and not only them.
Finally, Arakji said that it was still early in the season and that the team will learn from its mistakes just like they did last year and bounced back to win Dubai’s tournament and the Lebanese championship.
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