Marina Sarruf*
São Paulo – A group of veteran basketball players from Esporte Clube Sírio, a club in the southeastern Brazilian city of São Paulo, won by two points a friendly game against the veteran team of the Tunisian Basketball Federation, on Saturday (31), in the city of Lagoulette, near Tunis, capital of the Arab country.
The Sírio team was awarded the Ramon Semin Trophy, created by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, by Esporte Clube Sírio and by the Tunisian Consulate in São Paulo as a tribute to former managing vice-president at the Chamber and former president at the club, Ramon Semin, who had a dream of promoting a basketball game between Tunisians and the Sírio team.
"It was a very competitive game. We ended the first half with a 41-40 lead, and in the second half we won by a two-point difference," celebrated Célio Saccab, a player at Sírio. In all, eight players travelled to Tunisia, along with four escorts, including the Marketing vice-president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber and honorary consul of Tunisia in São Paulo, Rubens Hannun.
After the game, the Brazilians were received by the mayor of Tunis, Abbés Mohsen, in his office. According to Hannun, the mayor made a point of opening the doors of the city hall himself in order to welcome the Brazilian team. Mohsen stated, in Portuguese, that this type of initiative straightened even further the relationship between the two countries. After trading gifts, the mayor took the players out for dinner in a typical restaurant in Tunis.
On Friday (30), the Sírio players were received by the Tunisian minister of Sports and Physical Education, Abdallah Kaabi. On the previous day, the Brazilian team had played another friendly game against athletes from the Etoile, one of the three major basketball clubs in the Arab country. Etoile won the game by 47-40.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
