Hekmeh BC
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| Sagesse Club - Basketball team نادي الحكمة - فريق كرة السلة |
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| Sagesse Club - Basketball team نادي الحكمة - فريق كرة السلة logo | |||
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| Leagues | Lebanese Basketball League (Pepsi FLB League): Div.1 | ||
| Founded | 1992 | ||
| History | Sagesse BC (1992-present) |
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| Arena | Ghazir Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 4500 to 5000 | ||
| Location | Ashrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon | ||
| Team colors | Green, White |
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| President |  Maroun Ghaleb |
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| Team manager | Fouad Abou Chacra |
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| Head coach | Fouad Abou Chacra |
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| Team captain | Rodrigue Akl |
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| Ownership | Collège de la Sagesse of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut | ||
| Championships | 8 Lebanese Championships 3 FIBA Asia Champions Cups 3 West Asian Championships 2 Arab Club Championships |
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| Website | http://www.sagesse-club.com/ | ||
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Hekmeh or Al-Hikma or Club Sagesse (Arabic: الحكمة; also known as Club Sportif La Sagesse) is a Lebanese multi-sport club based in Beirut. The basketball team was established in 1992, as part of the historic Hekmeh club established in 1943 with mainly the football (soccer) team. The basketball team became far more popular than the initial football team thus making the basketball branch the most popular branch of the club, due to its phenomenal record breaking success since its formation in the early nineties in the newly reformed Lebanese league, the Arab and the FIBA Asian championships.
Contents
History
Al-Hikma in classical Arabic, El-Hekmeh in Lebanese dialect stands for "wisdom", thus also the French alternative name of the club, Sagesse (meaning wisdom in French).
The historical Hekmeh club was founded in Beirut in 1943 under the patronage of the late father Boulos Kik, supported by his excellency late Mgr. Jean Maroun ,with affiliation to the Collège de la Sagesse of the Maronite Catholic Church a leading educational institution in Lebanon and the East since 1875; despite the affiliation with the Sagesse College the club has its own independent administration. The basketball program was founded in 1992.
In 1992 the club was financed by media tycoon also dubbed as the Godfather of Lebanese basketball, president Antoine Choueiri, he wanted a team that will achieve unprecedented success and popularity in a bid to change lebanese sports history forever and unite all lebanese behind a successful team that will represent Lebanon and lebanese basketball in every possible competition on a national and international level.[1][2][3]
After the Choueiri takeover in 1992 Hekmeh/Sagesse included on its roster some of the most impactful player names including Lebanese national basketball team legends Elie Mechantaf and Fadi El Khatib ,notable foreigners that at the time were among the elite of foreign basketball players in Asia including ex-NBA players and FIBA world cup participants a high level of players that was never seen before in the Lebanese league and the neighbouring countries and under the management of the most decorated national basketball coach Ghassan Sarkis, a dominant dream team was born taking Lebanese Basketball to new heights ,achieving the goals that were set by Choueiri such as the ones mentioned in the previous passage.[4][5][6]
Sagesse became one of the most successful Lebanese basketball clubs with 8 Lebanese Basketball League Championships, 7 Lebanese Basketball Cups, 2 Arab Club Championships, and 3 FIBA Asia Champions Cup titles.. Hekmeh made history as well by being the first Lebanese club to win the Arab Club Championship [7] and the first Lebanese and first Arab club to win the FIBA Asia Champions Cup.[8][9]
Also, Sagesse is the only Arab and only Asian club to ever participate in the basketball club world championship, the McDonald's Championship organized by FIBA and the NBA, it was at the 1999 edition when Sagesse went as the Asian champions. The 1999 McDonald's Championship was the first and only time FIBA Asia was represented in the tournament.[10][11]
This exceptional participation and the way Sagesse represented Asia at the Mcdonald's Championship in Milano was praised by then Commissioner of the NBA David Stern and by former Secretary General of the FIBA Borislav Stanković among other officials.[12]
In 2012 Sagesse B.C. won a friendly game against Turkish team Galatasaray S.K. during a training camp that the club was holding in Turkey, this was the most significant game and win for a Lebanese team or any team in the region against a European team in recent times.[13][14]
Honours[15][16][17][18]
- Champions (8 Times): 1993-94, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999-2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04
- Lebanese Basketball Cup
- Champions (7 Times): 1993,1998,1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
- Champions (2 Times): 1998, 1999
- Champions (3 Times):[19] 1999, 2000, 2004 (Record)
- Champions (3 Times): 2002, 2005, 2006
- International tournaments
- 1999 McDonald's Basketball Club World Championship (Participant) [20][21]
- 2001: Damascus International Tournament (champions)
- 2002: Dubai International Tournament (champions)
- 2014: Qadisiya International Tournament (champions)
- 2014: Abu Dhabi International Tournament (champions)
- 2016: Dubai International Tournament (champions)
- Special Awards
- 1999 Best professional basketball team in Asia.
(Awarded by FIBA Asia known as the Asian Basketball Confederation back then for the first time in 1999 with Sagesse Club as the inaugural winner.)[22]
Medals and Decorations
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Knight in 1999 [23]
_Ribbon.png){kind=small}
Officer in 2000 [24]
Awarded to the club for its unprecedented success in the Lebanese, Arab and Asian basketball championships that highly contributed into the development and rise of the Lebanese basketball and sports in Lebanon on many levels.
Squad
| Sagesse roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Notable persons
Club Presidents
- Antoine Choueiri
- Georges Chehwan
- Elie Mechantaf
- Nadim Hakim
- Elie Yahchouchi (VP)
- Maroun Ghaleb
Notable coaches
- Ghassan Sarkis
Ilias Zouros- Fouad Abou Chacra
Dragan Raca
Tab Baldwin
Tim Darling- Veselin Matic
Guillermo Vecchio
Alen Abaz
Notable players
- Lebanese
- Elie Mechantaf
- Fadi El Khatib
- Rodrigue Akl
- Vicken Eskedjian
- Rony Fahed
- Sabah Khoury
- Joe Vogel
- Bader Makki
- Bassem Balaa
- Ghaleb Reda
- Roy Samaha
-
Julian Khazzouh - Elie Stephan
- Elie Rustom
- Walid Doumiati
- Yasser El Hajj
^NBA legend Rony Seikaly was included in the Sagesse club roster for the 1999 Asian Cup however he was unable to play for the team due to physical and technical issues.[25]
- International
Assane N'Diaye
Mohammad Asha- Jumaine Jones
- Tre Kelley
- Eric Chatfield
- Michael Richardson
Alpha Bangura- Desmond Penigar
- Darryl Watkins
- Samaki Walker
- DeShawn Sims
Oleksiy Pecherov- Dion Dixon
- Terrell Stoglin
- Jarrid Famous
- Dewarick Spencer
- Willie Burton
- Quincy Douby
- Ratko Varda
- Sherell Ford
- DerMarr Johnson
- Cedric Henderson
- Mike Efevberha
Herve Toure- Randy Culpepper
- Chris Daniels
- Charles Thomas
- Todd O'Brien
- Nate Johnson
Ryan Richards- Demarius Bolds
- Aaron Harper
- Ekene Ibekwe
- Alvin Sims
See also
References
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqhLP5zEMDo Documentary about Antoine Choueiri including a part about his vision , plans and success for Sagesse and Lebanese basketball
- ↑ http://www.foxsportspulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-3223-0-0-0&sID=31915&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=11527079
- ↑ http://mobile.lebanese-forces.com/2010/03/10/78018/
- ↑ http://sports-961.com/lebanese-basketball-much-antoine-chouairy-invested-building-sagesse-glory/
- ↑ http://www.almustaqbal.com/v4/Article.aspx?Type=np&Articleid=397541
- ↑ http://mobile.lebanese-forces.com/2010/03/10/78013/
- ↑ http://daharchives.alhayat.com/issue_archive/Wasat%20magazine/1998/4/13/الحكمة-بطل-الأندية-العربية-لكرة-السلة-لبنان-يرتدي-اللون-الأخضر.html
- ↑ http://www.addiyar.com/article/707446-صفحة-16-3051999
- ↑ http://daharchives.alhayat.com/issue_archive/Wasat%20magazine/1999/6/7/أول-ناد-عربي-يحرز-اللقب-الحكمة-اللبناني-على-قمة-آسيا-في-كرة-السلة.html
- ↑ http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/cl/training/p/nid/41162/article.html
- ↑ http://www.annahar.com/archive/172689-فريق-الحكمة-اليوم-الى-ميلانو-أول-ممثل-لآسيا-في-بطولة-القارات
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBCEnlU7tZ4 Video showing Mr.Choueiri at a TV show with the team and staff and Tom McCarthy, chief executive of ABC (Fiba Asia) Promotions, Ltd. just after the 1999 Mcdonald's world championship saying what Mr.Stern and Mr.Stankovic said about Sagesse
- ↑ http://www.malaaeb.com/pages/marticle/3845
- ↑ http://www.malaeeb.com/pages/marticle/3824-الحكمة%20يعسكر%20في%20تركيا%20ويواجه%20غلطة%20سراي%20ودياً
- ↑ http://www.sports-leb.com/2011/02/04/125065/
- ↑ http://sports.lebanese-forces.com/sports/MoreNews.aspx?newsid=125065
- ↑ http://www.startimes.com/f.aspx?t=29234426
- ↑ http://jamahir.alwehda.gov.sy/node/303104
- ↑ http://www.fiba.com/news/petrochimi-al-riyadi-advance-to-fiba-asia-champions-cup check last paragraph
- ↑ http://www.nba.com/global/games2013/all-time-international-game-list-printable.html
- ↑ http://www.nba.com/events/mcdonalds_championship.html
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXsS3goQ2GE Video showing the handing of the award to the club.
- ↑ http://www.addiyar.com/article/707911-الصفحة-16-361999
- ↑ http://www.rdl.com.lb/2000/3742/hekmeh.html
- ↑ http://www.arabasket.com/2014/09/27/a-pic-for-rony-seikaly-with-sag/
