Russia pulls basketball World Cup bid, blames negative image | Inquirer Sports

Russia pulls basketball World Cup bid, blames negative image

/ 11:22 AM November 23, 2017

Andrei Kirilenko. AP FILE PHOTO

MOSCOW — Russia has withdrawn a bid to host the 2023 basketball World Cup, saying that international criticism of the country’s athletes was to blame for the decision.

Russian Basketball Federation president and former NBA All-Star Andrei Kirilenko says the bid was pulled “taking into account the negative attitude of the world sports community to Russian athletes and our country’s sport in general.”

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Russia’s doping scandals across various sports have caused it to be stripped of numerous Olympic medals, though Kirilenko didn’t directly link the decision to doping scandals.

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That leaves ruling body FIBA with two joint bids for the tournament, one from Argentina and Uruguay, the other from the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.

Turkey was also a bidder but dropped out Tuesday, saying it wanted to focus on developing basketball at home.

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