On Saturday, social media pages circulated videos of the match that brought the Syrian national basketball team together with its Kazakh counterpart in Kazakhstan, on Friday. The videos showed the Iranian national anthem being played at the beginning of the match, instead of the Syrian one.
The national team showed a lack of mental preparation before the start of the match, and players failed -except for Anthony Bakr- to realize that the wrong national anthem was played. They then returned and sang the Syrian national anthem before the match’s beginning, which ended with the loss of Syria 84/74.
The head of the Syrian Sports Federation, Firas Moalla, pointed out, in media statements, that the Syrian Basketball Federation filed a complaint against the Kazakh Federation, and that the Syrian Sports Federation also submitted an objection to the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Moalla revealed that, due to the objection submitted to the International Basketball Federation, the Federation will fine the Kazakh team up to 10,000 USD.
Regarding the upcoming match, which will bring together the two teams on Monday in the capital Damascus, Moaala confirmed that the match will be held as usual and there will be no behavior or action similar to what happened in Kazakhstan.
For his part, the head of the Syrian Basketball Federation, Tarif Qutarsh, said: “We are not responsible for the error in playing the anthem, and the mistake falls on the Kazakh Federation and the Asian Federation. The Kazakh Federation will incur a material fine as a result of their mistake.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
