PR N° 35 - FIBA and FIBA Europe lift ban on English Basketball for upcoming European Competitions

GENEVA (FIBA) - In a letter addressed today to Sport England, UK Sport and the Ministry for Sport, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) lifted its suspension thereby allowing English players and British teams to compete in the upcoming competitions of the European Division B Championship.

The move comes after re-assurance has been given to FIBA by the authorities that England Basketball's existence is no longer threatened by the Mallin Review and their funding policy. The government authorities promised to work constructively with England Basketball to move the sport forward in view of the 2012 London Olympic Games and to bring all stakeholders together under the umbrella of the national governing body.

As a consequence, the Senior British Men's and Women's teams will be playing their next qualification games, attempting to achieve the qualification into Group A, in August and September 2007 as follows:

Great Britain Men: 21st August vs. Slovakia (in Birmingham), 29th August vs. Netherlands (in Neijmegen), 1st September vs. Albania (in Edinburgh) and 5th September vs. Belarus (in Belarus).

Great Britain Women: 1st September vs. Estonia (in Manchester), 8th September vs. Luxembourg (in Luxembourg), 12th September vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (in Manchester) and 15th September vs. Portugal (in Portugal).

For the complete details on the competition schedule, please visit www.fibaeurope.com