Achievements
Al Riyadi Club won the Lebanese Basketball Championship 22 times, including the 2010–2011 championship. They also went undefeated for nearly six years. In 1998, Riyadi won the West Asian Basketball Championship (WABA) that took place in Jordan; which earned them an appearance at the Asian Basketball Championship that took place in Malaysia in the same year. The club was able to win a bronze medal through an organized performance by the players. Riyadi's Michael Cumberland was nominated top player in Asia, while the team’s captain Walid Dumyati was named the top point guard in Asia. Al Riyadi has also won Housameddine Hariri International Tournament nine times.
Al Riyadi has also clinched Damascus International Tournament Cup in 2004. Riyadi was crowned Champion of 16th Dubai International Tournament which was held during the month of January, 2005. A year later in 2006, Riyadi preserved the title by winning the final by 20 points over the Egyptian Al Jazeera (83–63) in the final. Ismail Ahmad was named MVP of the tournament; Tony Madison was the best scorer and the best 3-point shooter, and Fouad Abou Chakra claimed the title of best coach.
On May 1, 2005, the club was crowned Champions of Lebanon for the 2004–2005 season after 8 years of waiting. The team broke a record by winning 25 times in 25 games, to become the first team in the recent Lebanese Basketball History to win the championship without any loss. In the finals, Al Riyadi defeated Sagesse Beirut in Manara by 40 points (112–72), and ended the series by (3–0). After that, Al-Riyadi headed to Dubai, and participated in Hamdan Ben Rashed Tournament which was held during the month of May 2005. The club was crowned Champion of the Tournament after defeating Iran's Saba 99–83.
In November 2006, right before the 2006–2007 Lebanese League kicked off, the FLBB requested from Al-Riyadi to participate in King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein’s Tournament in Jordan instead of the Lebanese national team who at the time was not ready for such an intense competition. The FLBB thought that Riyadi players would best represent Lebanon against national teams taking part in the tournament including Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Kosovo, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. The players brought the cup back to Lebanon after beating the Egypt national basketball team in the finals (70–68).
In 2007, Al Riyadi preserved both the Lebanese Championship and the Lebanese Cup in a season without defeats. It defeated Blue Stars twice in both finals. Right before the kick off of the 2007–2008 season, Riyadi claimed the 17th Housameddine Hariri tournament in Saida by beating Al Ahli Egypt (85–80).
In 2008, Iran's Saba Battery, the champions of 2006–2007 season's FIBA ASIA, found their way to the final stage of West Asian Basketball Association competitions, underway in the Iranian southern port city of Mahshahr, to play against their rival, Lebanon's Al Riyadi.
In June 2011, Al Riyadi Beirut won their first-ever FIBA Asia Champions Cup medal, by beating the two-time defending champions Mahram 91–82 at the PhilSports Arena, Manila – Philippines.
Read more about this topic: Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut
Famous quotes containing the word achievements:
“Like all writers, he measured the achievements of others by what they had accomplished, asking of them that they measure him by what he envisaged or planned.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“There are some achievements which are never done in the presence of those who hear of them. Catching salmon is one, and working all night is another.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)