FIBA to consider possible Russia and Belarus return to competitions / News - Basketnews.com

Andreas Zagklis says there is a chance that FIBA will announce the possibility for Russia to participate in a Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament, but a decision will be made in April.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis has revealed that the return of Russian and Belarusian teams to European competitions will be decided in the next meeting in April.

"In November, the FIBA ​​office extended our protective measures [suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes] until the end of April, when the next meeting of our office will be held," Zagklis told L'Equipe on Thursday night.

"There are two very specific elements to basketball. The first is that we are a team sport. Also, the concept of neutral athletes is not directly applicable to a neutral team. This notion requires a lot of work. And that's something we talk about regularly with the IOC [International Olympic Committee]," he continued.

"The second element is that for basketball, the Olympic qualifications began a long time ago. For example, for women, the gateway is the Women's EuroBasket, and neither Russia nor Belarus will participate. This is also the case for the Belarusian men's team.

There is a chance that we will announce the possibility for Russia to participate in a Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament, but a decision will be made in April. We regularly collaborate with ICO and we have discussions with the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) for a common position. But, for us, nothing has changed in the last three months," Zagklis said.

FIBA banned Russia and Belarus from international competitions on May 18, 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Thank you for reading us! We have even more content for you.