'Fearsome' Wael Arakji is force to be reckoned with for Lebanon at World Cup

They call him “Al Raheeb” – “The Fearsome” – and with good reason. Wael Arakji is a force on the basketball court: fast, unrelenting, and captivating.

The lefty point guard helped guide Lebanon to the silver medal at the Fiba Asia Cup in Indonesia last year and was named tournament MVP, thanks to a stream of impressive performances that included a 32-point showing against China in the quarter-finals. In a tight defeat to Australia in the final, Arakji tallied up 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Overall, he averaged a team-high 26 points per game for the Cedars and firmly positioned himself as one of the most exciting players on the Asian continent.

Spearheaded by coach Jad El Hajj, Lebanon notched seven consecutive victories in the Asia qualifiers to secure a spot in the 2023 Fiba World Cup and return to the competition for the first time since 2010.

Having completed a trio of tune-up games at Abu Dhabi’s International Basketball Week, which included a victory over Egypt and defeats to Mexico and Arizona State, Arakji and his teammates are ready to make their World Cup debut – none of the current group featured in the competition before – and are once again Jakarta-bound, looking to make their country proud.

“Honestly it means a lot, especially that all our staff, except our physiotherapists, we’ve never been to the World Cup,” Arakji told The National at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena.

“So it feels so good, to grow up with these guys, I’ve played with most of the guys since under-14, under-16, under-18, so we dreamt of getting to this level and I’m just happy we were able to get here all together. It’s been a childhood dream for all of us and we’re just super excited to get started there.”

It has been 13 years