Russian women hit with fresh sporting ban
The Russian and Belarusian women’s basketball teams have been banned from the 2023 EuroBasket Women’s Championship after FIBA Europe’s Executive Committee extended its existing sanctions to cover the upcoming qualifying games for the competition.
The executive committee met in Munich on Monday and made a decision on the matter, with FIBA Europe later making an announcement in a statement.
FIBA Europe revealed that its executive committee decided to “extend the measures for teams from Russia and Belarus to the upcoming FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers.”
It noted that while FIBA Europe’s board decided to apply a ban to national team and club competitions in May, the decision did not include the EuroBasket qualifiers at that time.
Both Russia and Belarus had already taken part in EuroBasket 2023 qualifying games in November of last year.
“Today's decision, which was taken after carefully considering the recent developments of the conflict in Ukraine, the decisions of the FIBA Executive Committee and the guidelines of the International Olympic Committee, means that Russia and Belarus are withdrawn from the upcoming Women's EuroBasket Qualifiers windows in November 2022 and February 2023,” FIBA Europe confirmed.
“The results of the two teams in their respective groups will be declared null and void as per the applicable regulations,” it added.
Russia had been drawn into Group F, which they topped with four points after two wins over Montenegro and Denmark in November 2021, and were scheduled to play Austria for the first time on November 24 this year.
Similarly, Belarus topped Group I with two wins in two games over the Netherlands and Czech Republic ahead of facing Ireland on November 24.
The EuroBasket Women 2023 competition will be held in Tel Aviv and Ljubljana from June 15 to 25.
The host nations of the competition – Israel and Slovenia – will directly qualify for the Final Round, with 14 other places reserved for 10 qualification group winners and the four best second-placed teams.
France and Spain last held the competition in 2021 in Strasbourg and Valencia, with Serbia winning their second title.
Belarus managed fourth place, which was their best performance at the tournament since finishing third in 2007, and were eliminated in the semifinals by France before losing a third-place playoff to Belgium.
Russia – champions in 2003, 2007, and 2011 – qualified as Group C winners and then finished second in Group D at the tournament before being knocked out of the quarterfinals by Belgium.
But neither Russia nor Belarus will have a chance to play in 2023 given Monday’s ruling, which stems from a recommendation made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban the two countries from international sporting competitions in late February after the launch of the military operation in Ukraine.
