“FIBA remains deeply concerned about the recent events in Ukraine and expresses its deepest condolences to the victims,” FIBA said in a statement which did not explain in detail what was happening in Ukraine and what it had to do with Russia.
The FIBA has decided to follow the IOC recommendations and the reasons for them. FIBA has therefore banned Russian teams and officials from participating in FIBA basketball and 3×3 basketball competitions until further notice.
FIBA will make further decisions at its meeting on March 25, and will inform the representatives of FIBA’s European division in the coming days. FIBA emphasized its strong condemnation of the violence and its hopes for peace.
It should be noted that the FIBA statement mentions only Russia, but not Belarus, which, for example, the IIHF excluded from its competition.
In basketball, the team window has just been closed, with the European national teams fighting in the PK qualifying tournament. The Russian national team played against the Netherlands on 24 February, but the second match did not take place on 27 February and was postponed, as did the British-Belarus national team.
Only “Nizhny Novgorod”, the team with which Roland Freimanis agreed yesterday to break the contract, played in the FIBA club tournaments in Europe in the Champions League this season. “Nizhny Novgorod” has already withdrawn from the tournament. Meanwhile, in the FIBA European Cup in Saratov, Avtodor scheduled a game against Sporting in the playoffs in mid-March.
Russia carried out a military invasion of Ukraine last week, which is still ongoing.
Resources used:
https://www.fiba.basketball/news/fi…
