The State of the Game: Women's Basketball in the Middle East 

Join us for a discussion on the development of women’s basketball in the Middle East. Basketball is widely considered to be an ‘American Game’, all while increasingly becoming one of the most watched and played sports in the world, including the Middle East. The International Basketball Federation, FIBA, announced on April 28, 2023, that Qatar has been awarded the hosting rights for the 2027 men’s FIBA Basketball World Cup.

In this panel, the speakers will discuss the state of women’s basketball in the Middle East; in particular, how Lebanese women’s basketball may lean on the US college basketball system to develop, and why the Middle East is ripe for basketball diplomacy.

Speakers:
Assile Toufaily is a third-year PhD student working on a thesis titled “The Socialization of Women’s Football: A Comparative Study between Lebanon and France.” Her research provides an innovative analysis of the sociocultural influences on the careers of female football players in two distinct settings—one with a professional sports infrastructure and the other where the sport remains underdeveloped.

Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport and sports diplomacy expert specializing in Franco-American relations and basketball. Author of “Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA” (Bloomsbury, 2023) and “The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010”,  (Lexington Books, 2013), her work has appeared with TIME, CNN International, The Athletic, and The New Yorker. Director of FranceAndUS and former co-director of the “Basketball Diplomacy in Africa” project (SOAS University of London), she is a veteran of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian. 

Naimah Abdullah is a basketball coach and former Division 1 women’s basketball player dedicated to empowering athletes both on and off the court. With a rich background in competitive sports, her firsthand experience with a deep understanding of the mental aspects of athletic performance. As a coach, she successfully guided teams to excel in their game while fostering a culture of resilience and teamwork. In addition to coaching, she is an engaging speaker who delivers TED Talks focused on confidence building in athletes. Through these talks, she shares insights and strategies that help athletes harness their potential, overcome self-doubt, and thrive in high-pressure situations.

Moderator: Danyel Reiche, Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) and a Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University Qatar