Russian players cheer their team during the London 2012 Olympic Games men’s bronze medal basketball game between the Argentina and Russia at the North Greenwich Arena in London on August 12, 2012. AFP FILE PHOTO
MOSCOW, Russia — Russia on Wednesday said its national basketball teams have been banned from all competitions by the sports ruling body FIBA.
“The Russian basketball federation received a letter from FIBA, which said that all Russian national teams have been banned,” Sergei Chernov, honorary president of the Russian basketball federation, told the TASS news agency.
“For the moment Russia’s FIBA membership was also temporarily suspended. The FIBA final verdict on the case will be announced at its conference on August 8-9.”
Chernov added that the Russian men national men’s squad is under threat of missing the European championships in September and next year’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The FIBA letter said: “The FIBA Executive Committee decided to suspend with immediate effect the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF) in view of the fact that the RBF has been unable to resolve longstanding institutional and legal issues preventing the Federation to work under proper conditions and maintain full control and governance in the country, as proven by the recently published Court decision against the RBF.”
“As a consequence, the RBF forfeits its rights as member of FIBA, and its teams and officials may not participate in official competitions or activities.”
A dispute between the previous national basketball federation head and the new president Yulia Anikeyeva, who was elected in 2013, was reportedly the reason for the ban.
On June 18 one of Moscow’s regional courts ordered the national basketball federation to hold fresh elections for the post of president and its executive board within 60 days.
The country’s ruling body issued an appeal against a judgement but it was rejected.
According to a Russian version of the letter from FIBA’s president Horacio Muratore, the sports governing body criticised the Russian authorities for failing to resolve the situation.
“We have a feeling that none of the interested parties showed its intentions to bring the Russian basketbal federation to unanimity and stability,” the letter said.
However, Muratore did invite federation head Anikeyeva to attend the FIBA conference in August to give an account of the situation and held out hope that the ban would be lifted.