In February this year, Hakan Demir was the head coach of the Iran men’s basketball team when it played Qatar in the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Now, as the second window begins at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on November 22, Friday, Demir will be the head coach of Qatar that will challenge a young Indian team.
After losing its matches to Iran and Kazakhstan, Qatar is placed third in Group E ahead of India, which is in fourth position. Demir said India’s match is crucial to both as they have lost two games apiece, but insisted that India will be the favourite.
Hakan Demir, Qatar men’s basketball coach during a training session. | Photo Credit: The Hindu/Ravindran_R
“I know the India team is very competitive and fights hard until the last second. Qatar and India are 0-2 in their groups. It will be a very crucial game for both. But of course, India has the home-court advantage and will be the favourite,” he said.
Qatar was quite a strong team a couple of decades back, finishing third in the FIBA Asia Cup in 2005. Since then, it has gone down the world rankings (101 to India’s 76) after failing to qualify for the Asia Cup last year. But Demir said the team is in a rebuilding phase and is bound to do better sooner than later.
“We are rebooting Qatar basketball again. Many players in the age group of 16-19 years. We have two naturalised players in Mike Lewis and Donte Grantham, from the USA. We will get better with every tournament. At the moment, we want to qualify for the finals of the Asia Cup to be held in Saudi Arabia from August 5 to 17, 2025,” Demir said.
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