GBR - Clock is ticking as Brits attempt to get Deng

SHEFFIELD (EuroBasket) - British fans have been assured everything is being done to make sure African-born Luol Deng is available for the country’s crucial EuroBasket qualifying games this year.
 
Great Britain will play Division B clashes in September and in a bid to win promotion. Reaching Division A is imperative as basketball’s world governing body FIBA want to be certain that Britain will be strong enough to merit a place at the 2012 London Olympics normally reserved for hosts.
 
An NBA star with the Chicago Bulls, Deng could well be the cornerstone of the British team in the European qualifiers and at the London Olympics, but with the qualifiers fast approaching, he has yet to receive a British passport.
 
Deng grew up in London after his family fled war-torn Sudan. He learned the game in the British capital and represented England at junior level before taking up the offer of a high school scholarship in America.
 
Most of his family still live in London and have British passports, but Deng left to follow his dream of playing in the NBA just before their applications were processed.
 
The 21-year-old still regards London as home and has committed himself to the Great Britain national team, but unless his passport application is processed soon, he will be ineligible for the European games.
 
“England Basketball is keen for him to be involved,” Radmila Turner, performance manager of England Basketball, told PA Sport.
 
“We’ve been working with him for a couple of years for that to happen and hopefully it will work out for both of us."
 
British Basketball was formed last year with one of the aims to prepare a team for the London Games.
 
Although Turner works for England Basketball - a separate entity - she continues to oversee Deng’s application as she has been dealing with his case for the last two years.
 
Deng is still playing the waiting game but Turner insists England Basketball are doing all they can to help.
 
“There is a lawyer acting on his behalf," she said. "It's the same lawyer that was successful in securing passports for the rest of the family.
 
“Luol’s case is complicated because his residence is abroad now but we’re hopeful.
 
“The only role we’ve played in the process is providing sporting information,” Turner added.
 
“We’ve been in contact with national sporting bodies such as UK Sport to gather letters of support - even the Minister of Sport has supported his application.
 
“All the papers have been submitted, but it’s not an easy thing in this country.
 
“In other countries, it could get sorted out in a matter of days but here it takes a lot longer to go through the process.”
 
Britain’s quest for promotion begins on September 3 against Slovakia and they recently signalled their intent by appointing American Chris Finch as their new head coach.
 
The former Sheffield Sharks and Euphony Bree coach is currently in the United States looking at potential players but Turner admits England Basketball may soon have to step up their efforts to ensure Deng is at his disposal.
 
“We hope something will happen within the next week or two,” she added. “If not then we will have to start pushing the passport office, but everything must go through the lawyer.
 
“The deadline for registering players with FIBA Europe is the end of July (six weeks before the first game).
 
“We can register players after that but we have to pay a penalty (an administration fee of 500 euros), but we’d be quite happy to do that to get Luol aboard.”
Britain will also be up against Albania, Belarus and the Netherlands in Group B.
 
By Ben Collins, PA Sport