Spanish basketball summary: Braugen - Real Madrid 80:73/Sport1
The Irish women's basketball team does not regret its disgraceful attitude in the meeting against Israel last week, when it refused to shake hands, but it also does not regret not boycotting the game.
Ireland played against Israel in the Latvian capital Riga on Thursday, and was defeated 87:57, but before the previous game there were calls in Ireland to boycott the game in light of the war in Gaza.
The chairman of the Basketball Association of Ireland, John Feehan, said that Irish basketball has received threats that it will face heavy sanctions and punishments if the association does not comply with the regulations. The Irish claim that they would have lost "a whole generation of players" if they had boycotted the Eurobasket qualifier against Israel .According
to Feehan, the FIBA made it clear to the Basketball Association of Ireland that they would be fined €80,000 if they did not play on Thursday and a further €100,000 fine if they did not make it to the second leg in November.
Ireland could also have faced exclusion from FIBA competitions.
Now the Irish union insists on justifying the decision not to shake hands with the Israeli rivals as an act of protest. The Israeli team and its people accused the Irish of anti-Semitism, but Feehan rejects the accusation and claims: "We did what was right for the sport."
Now Feehan is calling on the FIBA to take responsibility and make future decisions regarding whether such games should be played or not, and how "complex" gestures such as handshakes should be performed before the game.
"No union, anywhere, wants to be in that position," he said.
"Having said that, I think we came out of it very strong. The reality is that it's a difficult situation. I hope it will be resolved in the near future, but, ultimately, it will be up to FIBA.
We cannot do this in isolation.
"Decisions of this type should be made as a whole. FIBA will have to make sure that there is support and willingness across Europe to do this.
You can't do these things alone, you end up hurting yourself and no one else.
We hope everything will be resolved.
Let's be honest, everyone wants peace and hopes it will happen in the near future."
Ireland faced pressure to completely boycott the game, which was moved to Latvia from Israel due to the war. Israeli coach Sharon Drucker accused Ireland of not respecting the sport, while actress Dor Sa'ar said the Irish national team was "quite anti-Semitic ".
at an exclusive discount
The Israeli company that invented hair removers does it again
In collaboration with Epilady
The Basketball Association of Ireland claimed the comments were "inflammatory and completely inaccurate", and Feehan insists they made the right decision to play but to protest.
"At the end of the day, we have to make sure we don't take anyone out of our sport and that's exactly where we needed to be," he said.
"It was a difficult week but I think the sport is in a great place and is progressing in a positive way."
More on the same topic:
Israel women's basketball team