PRESSURE: The Irish players refused to shake hands with the Israeli team before their game on Thursday and did not participate in the traditional pre-game exchanges following accusations of “antisemitism”.

By Sports Reporter

THE DIRECTOR OF FIBA, the international basketball federation, has said that it is reviewing whether the Israel women’s team accusing Irish players of being antisemitic, and posing with military personnel ahead of yesterday’s game broke any rules or regulations.

 The controversial game went ahead yesterday after being postponed last November. The Irish team had faced intense pressure to boycott the game, but according to FIBA’s regulations doing so could have resulted in a 5 year ban from the women’s Eurobasket competition.

The Irish players refused to shake hands with the Israeli team before the game started in Latvia yesterday. The game location was chosen by Israel, as playing at home was not an option due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, FIBA director Kamil Novak said that the organisation is not a “political one”, and therefore it could not facilitate a request from the Irish team for the game to be further postponed.

He added that there was no “calendar gap” for the game to take place later in the year, and that in his view there was “no reason” to postpone the game, once security concerns had been addressed.

Novak pointed out that Israel is playing in other international basketball competitions, and in other sports. He however said that the Israeli team manager posting photos of the team with military personnel who were carrying machine guns “can be questioned”.  Novak said a report on the game and the events leading up to it will go to the FIBA commissioner, who will evaluate whether any action or sanctions need to be taken.

 The director added that in June of last year when an event was held in Israel, before the current crisis in the Middle East broke out, members of FIBA saw soldiers with “machine guns”, adding that the Israeli players live in a “different reality”, and that some are obliged to serve in their military.

Novak said that FIBA has “invested a lot of money” in the Eurobasket women’s competition, and that it was good to see Ireland register for the competition in 2019, and to see the team make “progress” since.  He clarified that the report being prepared for the commissioner will also detail the choice of the Irish players not to shake hands before the game. Ireland lost yesterday’s game to Israel, as the final score was 87-57.

The game was a qualifier for the Eurobasket competition. Ireland chose not to host this qualifier late last year as it expected protests would overshadow the game, and the security of the Israeli team could not be “guaranteed”.

 Several Irish players opted not to attend or play in the fixture, but Basketball Ireland CEO John Feehan said that the team ultimately had no option but to take part in the game. Basketball Ireland said Irish players would not be participating in any of the traditional pre-game exchanges, including swapping gifts or offering handshakes following accusations of “antisemitism”.

 On Wednesday, Israeli basketball player Dor Sa’ar described the Ireland team as “antisemitic”.

 Basketball Ireland subsequently said yesterday that it had informed FIBA that “as a direct result of recent comments made by Israeli players and coaching staff – including inflammatory and wholly inaccurate accusations of antisemitism, published on official Israeli federation channels – that our players will not be partaking in traditional pre-match arrangements with our upcoming opponents”.

 “This includes exchanging of gifts, formal handshakes before or after the game, while our players will line up for the national anthem by our bench, rather than centre court,” it said.

BOW OUT IN STYLE

Afcon2023: Bafana Bafana’s third place match against drc perfect op to go home with bronze medal

By Ali Mphaki

South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo will be looking at bowing out in style of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023.

Both sides were knocked out of the title race during the semi-finals where Bafana Bafana were edged 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Nigeria, while DR Congo lost by a slim 1-0 margin against hosts, Cote d’Ivoire.

While both sides will be disappointed with the semi-final exit, the third and fourth place play off presents the perfect opportunity for either side to go home with the consolation of being the third best team of the competition.

The Leopards made their last final appearance in 1974 and won what still stands as their last TotalEnergies CAF AFCON trophy.

Before the triumph in 1974, DR Congo formerly known as Zaire, had won the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON for the first time in 1968 in Ethiopia.

D.R Congo started their TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’lvoire 2023 campaign with three draws but gathered momentum in the knockout phase where they knocked out record holders, Egypt and Guinea in the round of 16 and quarter-finals respectively.

But the step was too high in the last four against Côte d’Ivoire as they lost by 1-0.

Head coach of the South African head coach, Hugo Broos says the fight for a bronze medal in the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 will be more of a mental battle than anything.

South Africa face Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, 10 February in Abidjan at 20h00 in a third and fourth place play-off after both sides were eliminated in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

According to the Belgian tactician who guided South Africa to their first semi-final since 2000, the key to clinching a third place will be in how they mentally recover from the heart-breaking semi-final loss.

“We played a very good game against Nigeria. It was a great performance and we showed that we are a great team again. When you exit after 120 minutes, it’s always a huge disappointment. When you play so good, the disappointment is so big. The game tomorrow is special.

It depends a bit on which team will be mentally recovered because also for DRC, it was difficult to lose like that”.

The DR Congo had not reached this stage of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON since 2015 in Equatorial Guinea, and had been dreaming of reaching the final for 50 years.

The Leopards will therefore have to pull out all the stops again if they are to claim the bronze medal that will crown a fine TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Côte d’lvoire 2023 when they face South Africa on Saturday, 10 February in Abidjan.

Kick off at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny is at 20h00 GMT.