Sharp criticism from the leader of the Ukrainian national basketball team
Center team of Ukraine Artem Pustovoy criticized the leadership of FIBA for a passive position during the military invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s just my opinion. Perhaps no one is waiting for Ukraine at the World Cup, no one needs us there. This is no longer a sport, but rather a business. Well, we’ll come and play. And there, first of all, people look at the possible profit. Arrival of fans, sale of tickets. Ukrainian fans now have almost no opportunity to leave. I do not rule out that the referees at the match with Italy were of a low level – they were given a command, they complied.
“FIBA wants to be loyal to everyone. They don’t call a spade a spade. The war in Ukraine has never been called a war. Underpants. Due to the fact that FIBA banned shirts, we are the day before the game [с Италией] made posters. We took pictures, made a video. We wanted to remind people about the crimes of Russia by Independence Day. Plus – there were also Ukrainian children at the match who came to support us – they had a training camp in Riga. During the game, they were sitting with these posters.”
Earlier, FIBA suspended all Russian teams and clubs from competitions under its auspices. Also, the International Basketball Federation rejected Russia’s application to host EuroBasket 2025.
Also, the Euroleague Executive Board of Shareholders decided to exclude Russian clubs (CSKA, Zenit and Unix) from the tournament – these clubs will not be able to play in the 2022/23 season
Early on the morning of February 24, Russia launched rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities, and then launched a large-scale invasion. The war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine continues for the 185th day.
Source: Sportarena
