29 March - 4 April 2001
Issue No.527
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 March - 4 April 2001 Issue No.527 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Court rage
ITTIHAD basketball fans ran riot, giving Ahli the league crown. Abeer Anwar reports on the melee
Cairo's indoor sports hall looked more like a battlefield after angry spectators littered the court with various projectiles in an ugly season-ending basketball finale.
A fight on the ball between Ahli and Ittihad players
photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid
Ahli was awarded the title following Saturday's mayhem even though more than four minutes of playing time remained against Alexandria's Ittihad. But Ittihad spectators, incensed by the officiating, hurled chairs and almost anything else they could lay their hands on onto the court. The near-riot necessitated a 30-minute stoppage, followed by an announcement that Ittihad had decided to forfeit the match rather than continue.
Mahmoud Hebeish, Egyptian Basketball Federation president, said later Ittihad would face punitive measures and an as yet undetermined fine expected to be stiff. One of its players, Ashraf Sedqi, has been suspended and the club's Cup matches will be played without spectators.
It was a nightmarish end for Ittihad which had begun the evening well enough. Plenty of three-pointers enabled it to end the first half on top 39-25. In the second, Ahli tightened up on defence, allowing Ittihad only four points. In the same stretch Ahli scored 18, levelling at 53. It would be the last time either club would score.
Ittihad coach Tarek El-Sabagh received a technical foul for venturing too close to the sidelines. El-Sabagh vehemently objected, which landed him another technical. Sedqi then pushed referee Mohamed El-Werdani, resulting in another foul. The fouls added up to six free throws for Ahli which had Ittihad fans fuming. Dozens of them unhinged the arena's plastic yellow chairs from their moorings and propelled them, as well as bottles, onto the court as riot police with batons and shields stood helplessly by.
El-Werdani was forced to stop the match which was later cancelled after Ittihad players walked out. Ahli thus came out victorious, winning 20-0, as is stipulated in the event of a club withdrawal.
The day before Ittihad had mauled Ahli 90-63, leaving both teams with 35 points and necessitating Saturday's tie-breaker.
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