The game ended in a draw at 44-44. It was held as part of the sports festival under the motto "Russia-Syria: Basketball Unifying Countries" organised with the assistance of the Russian Embassy and the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), reports Tass news agency.
According to the agency's interim head Alexey Frolov, the idea to hold a friendly match emerged spontaneously. "We suggested playing such a friendly match, the Syrian side supported it. The effect is very simple. We want to show that, while the military is leaving, Russia is not going anywhere. We play basketball with the fraternal Syrian people, go in for sports, care about the younger generation," he stressed.
"It is important for us to tell the whole world that the match is taking place in Damascus, that there is no longer war here, that ordinary people live here and that life goes on its usual way. We want to state that we have defeated terrorism and made our capital safe," head of the Syrian Olympic Committee Mowaffaq Jouma stressed.
Basketball is the second most popular team sport in Syria after football. The national team's home matches are held in Malaysia so far, but the country plans to take part in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
About VDC
Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.