Deficit costs UAE team chances of Olympic dream

brahim Ahmad scored 25 points, but the UAE were unable to overcome an early 15-point deficit and lost to Syria 80-73 in the Fiba Asia Championship at Wuhon, China. The defeat effectively eliminated the UAE from consideration for the 2012 London Olympics. The UAE would need a highly unlikely combination of events to slip into fourth place in their six-team pool and reach the quarter-finals, beginning with an enormous victory over Jordan in tandem with a crushing Syria defeat versus the Philippines. Ahmad, a guard who plays for the Al Wasl club, had a productive day, as did Khalil Salem of Sharjah, who scored 17 points. However, Khalid Al Zaabi, the Wasl swingman who usually is the UAE's leader, got into early foul trouble, was disqualified on a damaging technical foul midway through the fourth quarter and scored only two points in less than 11 minutes of action. His technical foul came just after Ahmad had scored on a driving layup to reduce the Syria lead to eight points, the smallest UAE deficit since the opening minutes of the game. Ioannis Deeb converted two free throws for Syria, and the UAE never got closer than seven, when Salim threw in a long three-pointer at the final second. Ibrahim Al Sari of Al Nasr scored 11 points and took eight rebounds for the UAE in 20 productive minutes, and the power forward Ali Al Hattawi scored eight points before fouling out. Syria were led by their big man Eder Georges, a naturalised Brazilian, who scored 17 and led his team's 60-30 domination of the backboard with 15 rebounds. The winner of this tournament gains a berth at London 2012, and the teams placing second and third enter a 12-team Olympic qualifying tournament in July; the top three at that event also advance to London.