UK home secretary cancels visas of all Belarusian NT members / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Media Credit FIBA Media

FIBA's decision to postpone Great Britain's game against Belarus in Newcastle for the 2023 Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers was inevitable after the British government banned the entry of the guest team into the country.The reason has to do with the situation in Ukraine since Great Britain forbade the Belarusian delegation to travel to the UK.In particular, the country's Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted that she made the decision to revoke the visas of all members of the Belarusian NT.

Belarus / Schedule

Belarus Great BritainFri16:30 Great Britain BelarusMon19:00

"I have canceled the visas of the Belarusian Men’s Basketball Team who were due to play in Newcastle tomorrow night," Patel wrote on Twitter.

"The UK will not welcome the national sports teams of those countries who are complicit in Putin’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine."

FIBA announced on Friday that the World Cup 2023 European Qualifier match, planned for Monday at the Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle, would not go ahead due to "the current security situation".

The Belarus team was not planning to travel to the UK after Friday’s announcement that the game was off. Great Britain and Belarus had been due to play two matches – one in Minsk on Friday and the second in Newcastle on Monday.

FIBA first announced on Thursday that the Minsk game would be postponed before confirming the next day that the Newcastle game would also not go ahead.

The International Federation also announced that a fixture between the Netherlands and Russia, set to take place on Sunday in the Dutch city of Almere, would also be postponed due to security reasons.

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