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Palestinian basketball enjoys milestone day by stunning Philippines

Xinhua, September 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

It's a big day for Palestinian basketball when the 10-men team stunned Asian basketball powerhouse the Philippines 75-73 in the tournament debut on Wednesday.

It was the first time since 1963, when Palestine joined FIBA, for the Middle Eastern team to play at the top stage of Asian basketball. A unexpected win was a great gift for the newcomer.

"We didn't expect too much," said Jamal Abu Shamala who led the game with 26 points and 15 rebounds. "We just try to play hard through the game and see what happens."

The situation in Palestine remained unstable in past years, so the national basketball team only had two weeks for pre-game training.

"We faced a lot of difficulties, a lot of hurdles and a lot of things that are not the way we expected," said Palestine head coach Jerry Steele, "but in return we turn to take whatever comes to us, and continue to focus on our job and play basketball."

60-year-old Steele stepped up as the head coach two years ago. He embraced the great heart and work ethnic from the Palestinian athletes, but shocked by their lack of basics.

"We have to start with the basics," said Steele.

"We have to start with how to move with basketball and we have to learn how to play defensively. All very very basic."

Steele helped the team to get into the Asian Championships, but there were not enough time for the players to get together.

"We didn't really have two regular weeks to practice," said Steele.

"There are some players, because of the organizational problems, so we didn't have enough time to practice before we got here."

The lack of time wasn't the only problem for the young team. Because of missing the training, two members were excluded from the team.

"As a coach I'm interested in more than just basketball and I'm interested in helping the young men, building their character and helping them to grow up responsible," Steele said.

"It's a difficult lesson for them to learn and I'm afraid it's the only time for them to learn it."

Palestine will next face Kuwait in the second group game on Thursday. Endi