European Competition for British Basketball Teams The Board of FIBA Europe, at its recent meeting in Madrid (18-19 March 2006), decided and approved the name change to “Great Britain” for the following teams, entered as “England”, in European Division B competitions for 2006: Senior Women: 9 September v Estonia 16 September v Luxembourg (home) 20 September v Bosnia-Herzegovina 23 September v Portugal (home) Senior Men: 3 September v Slovak Republic 9 September v Netherlands (home) 13 September v Albania 16 September v Belarus (home)
Under-20 Women Tournament (Druskininkai, Lithuania): 7 July v Ireland 8 July v Slovenia 9 July v Serbia Montenegro 11 July v Belarus 12 July v Switzerland
Under-20 Men Tournament (Lisbon, Portugal): 14 July v Ireland 15 July v Belgium 16 July v Poland 01/12/05 Home Countries Basketball UniteThe national basketball associations of Wales, Scotland and England have put pen to paper on an agreement which is seen as the first major step in securing a place for British basketball at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The agreement is backed by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). “This is excellent news”, stated Patrick Baumann, the Secretary General of the world governing body. “Just two months after we met with all the stakeholders of basketball in Great Britain, and only a few days after the FIBA Central Board paved the way for a Great Britain team, a formal agreement is in place. This is an exciting development that can lay the foundation to have competitive host teams for the 2012 Olympic basketball tournaments for men and women.” Secretary General for FIBA Europe, Nar Zanolin was in attendance and stated that “it was a very fruitful meeting and now we must all go forward”. FIBA Europe have been fully supportive with a key development allowing British men’s and women’s teams to compete in Europe at senior and U-20 level; while the home countries also retain the right for their senior teams to compete at a lower level to that of the respective British team. The home countries also retain their individual age-group (U-14, U-16 and U-18) teams’ programmes and the right to compete in FIBA Europe competitions. “Both FIBA Europe and FIBA are very supportive of this move towards establishing senior British teams. A good quality British team can only be positive for world and European basketball” commented Mr Zanolin “I believe the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the three nations is a major step towards establishing the best possible structure to administer such a programme and to realise that goal.” In order to achieve a place at the 2012 London Games, both the men’s and women’s teams will be required to demonstrate that they are competitive in European Basketball. This will require a sustained competition programme commencing with entry to the European B-Division Championships next year with the intention of moving up to the A-Division as rapidly as possible. Alongside the senior British teams, Under-20 men’s and women’s teams, targeting the potential stars of 2012, will also compete in European Competition from next year as part of the development pathway. Speaking on behalf of the three home countries, basketballscotland Chairman Bill McInnes, who himself captained Great Britain in Olympic qualifying tournaments, commented that “the opportunity for British teams to be part of the 2012 Olympics has refreshed and refocused the ambition of all home country basketball associations to come together and ensure that the appropriate structure is in place to optimise the performance of British teams. To reach the goal of having male and female teams at the 2012 games would provide a massive boost for basketball throughout Great Britain. We are confident that the agreement signed today will see the establishment of the most efficient structure to see that goal achieved. There is a lot of work ahead of us, but today is a big step forward for basketball in Great Britain.” Notes:
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