VLADIVOSTOK, September 10, Sergey Fuks. Russian men's national team basketball next year may play with teams from Africa and Latin America, said the President of the Russian Basketball Federation Andrei Kirilenko.
In March 2022, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) suspended Russian teams from participating in competitions under the auspices of the organization amid the situation in Ukraine. In May, the organization announced the exclusion of Russians and Belarusians from the 2023 World Cup. In April of this year, the FIBA Executive Committee decided not to allow the Russian national team to participate in the pre-qualification tournament for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
«»We have a huge number of ideas about holding matches of Russian national teams. For example, about the women's team. There were ideas to hold games in Ivanovo, Suzdal, so that the matches would cover the Golden Ring. As for the men's team, today because of the World Cup It was not possible to get a large number of sparring sessions because the championship participants already had their plans drawn up. We managed to hold two games with the Iranian national team and two matches with the Belarusian team, but this is still not enough, our young team needs to get more good and serious, competitive games. Therefore, next year we have big plans for our team to play both at home and away,” Kirilenko said.
«And this is not necessarily Asia, I would consider a huge number of strong teams. It is clear that it is difficult for us to get sparring with European teams, although the same Serbs and Turks are happy to meet halfway and play with us. But there are teams from Latin America , from Africa, whom we are always used to underestimating. But let's look at the World Cup — South Sudan is higher than France. Don't underestimate, now basketball has improved very well. Teams that were not paid attention to before look very good. Institute of National national teams have greatly raised the level of world basketball,” he added.