Basketball Ireland has maintained its hosting of the European Championship for Small Countries this summer. The dates have shifted from July to August though, as has the location with Dublin now hosting at the National Basketball Arena, as opposed to the University of Limerick where it had been planned for, originally in the summer of 2020.
The changes were confirmed at a meeting yesterday of FIBA. The Women’s Championship will be held in Cyprus from July 20th to 25th, and the Men’s in Dublin from August 10th to 15th.
Ireland will also have men’s and women’s teams competing at the 3×3 Euro Cup in Constanta, Romania, from June 26th-27th.
That was the end of the good news arising from the meeting with all Youth Championships cancelled and replaced by the ‘European Challenge 2021’, a round-robin tournament, which will have a maximum of six countries in a group. This will apply for the U16’s, U18’s and U20’s though Ireland’s participation has yet to be confirmed and no venues or dates have yet to be nailed down.
“It is a mixed bag of news today,” said Basketball Ireland CEO and FIBA Member Bernard O’Byrne.
“Naturally we are delighted to see our senior men’s and women’s teams being able to compete at the European Championship for Small Countries this summer. The decision to move the men’s tournament from Limerick was a difficult one, but it was made after consultation with all the stakeholders involved, including the University of Limerick. FIBA made the call based on logistics, which are naturally more difficult during Covid-times. I’d like to thank UL for all their hard work and dedication and naturally, we’d like to host a major tournament there at some point in the future.”
“For our underage teams, while there is no European Championship to target this summer, they will potentially be able to compete at the ‘European Challenge 2021’. Basketball Ireland will begin discussions with the coaches, players and parents involved and see what is possible this summer.”
“We have been back training for a couple of weeks and that will be ramped up now that we’ve had confirmation that the European Championship for Small Countries is going ahead,” added Senior men’s Coach Mark Keenan.
“The switch to August will give us more time to prepare, which is particularly important because our domestic players have not had game-time this season. Our players who are based abroad have been returning home over the last few weeks to join up with the squad and this will also give us a longer period to integrate them. The tournament being switched from Limerick to Dublin is an understandable one, given the times we’re in at the moment.”
“We’re obviously delighted to get the opportunity to compete this summer,” said his Women’s counterpart James Weldon. “It’s a massive boost to the squad after a long arduous year without basketball for our players. The girls have put in a huge amount of work during the various lockdowns to keep themselves in shape and that’s borne fruit, which has been illustrated at training over the last few weeks. Now we have a tournament to prepare for and it’s hugely exciting.”
Basketball Ireland are one of 30 National Governing Bodies of Sport that are among more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.
Sport for Business Partners
