JERUSALEM, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Israeli basketball coach Lior Lubin, who played for the national team and several leading clubs in the country, passed away at the age of 46 on Monday from cancer.
Lubin played 66 games with the national team. He won the Israeli double of the league championship and State Cup in 2003 with Maccabi Tel Aviv, with whom he also played in the Euroleague.
Throughout his playing career spanning from 1995 to 2007 as a point guard, Lubin also played for Ironi Ramat Gan and Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israeli Super League. He also had stints with Azovmash in Ukraine, Apollon Patras in Greece, and Bulgaria's CSKA Sofia.
Lubin served as the head coach for six Israeli Super League teams, including Hapoel Beer Sheva this season, from which he quit in November last year due to his illness.
He was also an assistant coach for the Israeli national team, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Panathinaikos Athens.
"Lubin was an excellent player and coach, a significant figure in Israeli basketball. Pleasant, quiet and a real professional," said Israeli Sports Minister Miki Zohar. ■
