Sagesse SC (basketball)
| Sagesse Basketball Club الحكمة | |||
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| Sagesse Basketball Club الحكمة logo | |||
| Leagues | Lebanese Basketball League (Pepsi FLB League): Div.1 | ||
| Founded | 1992 | ||
| Arena | Ghazir Stadium [1] (capacity: 5,000) | ||
| Location | Ashrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon | ||
| Team colors | Green, white | ||
| President |  Maroun Ghaleb | ||
| Team manager | Fouad Abou Chacra | ||
| Head coach | Fouad Abou Chacra | ||
| Team captain | rodruige akl | ||
| Championships | 8 Lebanese Championships 3 FIBA Asia Champions Cups 3 West Asian Championships 2 Arab Club Championships | ||
| Website | http://www.clubsagesse.org/ | ||
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Hekmeh or Al-Hikma or Club Sagesse (Template:Lang-ar; also known as Club Sportif La Sagesse) is a Lebanese basketball club based in Beirut. The basketball programme was established in 1992, as part of the historic Hekmeh club established in 1943 with mainly football (soccer) programme. The basketball team became far more popular than the initial football team, 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.
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 1943 under the patronage of the late father Boulos Kik, supported by his excellency late Mgr. Jean Maroun; with alliance to the Collège de la Sagesse a leading educational institution in Lebanon and the East since 1874.
The basketball program was founded in 1992. It 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.
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 acheive unprecedented success 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.
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.[2]
Sagesse was 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 in the 1999 edition when Sagesse went as the Champion of Asia. The 1999 McDonald's Championship was the first and only time FIBA Asia was represented in the tournament.[3]
- 8 times champions: 1993-1994, 1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002–2003, 2003-2004
- Lebanese Basketball Cup
- 7 times champions: 1993,1998,1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003
- 2 times champions: 1998 and 1999
- 3 times champions: 1999, 2000, 2004 (Record)
- 3 times champions: 2002, 2005, 2006
- International tournaments
- 1999 McDonald's Basketball Club World Championship (Participant) [7][8]
- 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.)[9]
Squad
| Sagesse roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Notable persons
Club Presidents
- Antoine Choueiri
- Georges Chehwan
- Talal al Makdissi
- Elie Mechantaf
- Nadim Hakim
- Elie Yahchouchi (VP)
Notable coaches
Notable players
- Lebanese
-
Rony Seikaly^ - Rodrigue Akl
- Boulos Bechara
- Brian Beshara
- Walid Domiaty
- Vicken Eskedjian
- Rony Fahed
- Charles Tabet
- Fadi El Khatib
- Paul Khoury
- Sabah Khoury
- Joe Vogel
- Bader Makki
- Elie Mechantaf
- Ghaleb Rida
- Daniel Faris
- Bassem Balaa
- Roy Samaha
-
Julian Khazzouh - Elie Stephan
- Elie Rustom
- International
Assane N'Diaye-
Mohammad Asha 
Alpha Bangura- Jumaine Jones
- Tre Kelley
- Eric Chatfield
- Michael Richardson
- Desmond Penigar
- Darryl Watkins
- Samaki Walker
- DeShawn Sims
- Terrell Stoglin
- Dewarick Spencer
- Willie Burton
- Quincy Douby
- Sherell Ford
- DerMarr Johnson
- Cedric Henderson
- Mike Efevberha
Herve Toure- Randy Culpepper
- Chris Daniels
Ratko Varda
Oleksiy Pecherov- Todd O'Brien
- Nate Johnson
Ryan Richards
^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.[10]
See also
References[11]
- ^ "History". SAGESSE - AL HEKMEH BEIRUT basketball team (Lebanon-Div.A). Asia-Basket. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
- ^ http://sports-961.com/lebanese-basketball-much-antoine-chouairy-invested-building-sagesse-glory/
- ^ http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/cl/training/p/nid/41162/article.html
- ^ http://www.sports-leb.com/2011/02/04/125065/Template:Ar icon
- ^ http://sports.lebanese-forces.com/sports/MoreNews.aspx?newsid=125065 Template:Ar icon
- ^ http://www.startimes.com/f.aspx?t=29234426 Template:Ar icon
- ^ http://www.nba.com/global/games2013/all-time-international-game-list-printable.html
- ^ http://www.nba.com/events/mcdonalds_championship.html
- ^ [1] Video showing the handing of the award to the club.
- ^ http://www.arabasket.com/2014/09/27/a-pic-for-rony-seikaly-with-sag/
- ^ http://liban4sports.com/?p=2085 أزمة الحكمة الى حلحلة