Great Britain’s men have missed out on a place at next year’s world championships after FIBA chiefs opted to offer wild-card entries to Lithuania, Russia, Germany and Lebanon.
British Basketball had lobbied for a spot in Turkey to improve their chances of getting a guaranteed berth at the 2012 Olympics. However, GB’s lack of pedigree counted against them in yesterday’s vote and Chris Finch’s side will now play in the qualifiers for the 2011 Eurobasket finals in Lithuania.
“We thank FIBA for giving us careful consideration,” said performance director Chris Spice. “We must now take a different path, which will be to qualify for EuroBasket 2011 next summer. If anything we arrived at this point in time much earlier than initially expected, which is credit to the players and coaching staff and we are proud to have been able to put ourselves into the mix.”
The draw for the qualifiers takes place on January 16.
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