SPORTS> Basketball
|
SPORTS> Basketball
|
|
Basketball game ready for lift-off in Britain
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-10 14:50 LONDON - Basketball in Britain, which has long struggled for headlines because of soccer's dominance and the lack of a unified national team, is finally primed for exposure at Europe's highest level.
For the first time in the 73-year existence of the European Basketball Championships a Britain team, rather than England or Scotland who have qualified before, will rub shoulders with Europe's best sides. After six home and away qualifiers last month Britain topped their group containing Israel, Bosnia and the Czech Republic to go through to EuroBasket in Poland next September. The team came out of a 14-year hibernation in 2006. British teams assembled before 1992 had nothing like the talent now available, such as Chicago Bulls leading player Luol Deng. Since January 2007, it has been run by British Performance Basketball (BPB), a UK Sport-funded body responsible for elite players, set up in the wake of London winning the 2012 Olympics to ensure Britain would actually have a team there. Deng feels the game in Britain is now on an upward curve. "From the years before, there was an improvement in the attendance and fanbase in Britain, plus it was great being able to step out in London for the first time," he told Reuters by e-mail from Bosnia. Add to the equation a burgeoning number of participants, a national league gathering strength again after years in the doldrums and the NBA's decision to move its European headquarters to London in 2007, and it is easy to see why leading figures in the British game are excited. GREAT FUTURE "The future is so great for the sport in Great Britain," Ron Wuotila, performance manager at BPB, told Reuters by telephone from Bosnia. "In all honesty I hope people in Britain would spend more of their time talking about what's possible and not why we're not playing in front of 18,000 people. What we achieved just helps all of that," he added. Coach Chris Finch, who has been involved since the team's rebirth in 2006, was thrilled by last month's campaign. "Looking from where we came it is an amazing achievement by everyone who has been involved in some capacity, and it's nice for the British public to have something to rally around," he said in an e-mail. Officials hope this exposure for basketball will help the sport to overcome the barriers that have held it back. For instance, during the home qualifiers none of the venues were basketball specific and Wuotila says this needs to change. |
