GB’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament switched to Belgrade

Image credit: FIBA

Great Britain will now be heading to Belgrade, Serbia for their upcoming Olympic Qualifying Tournament after FIBA confirmed the switch from Foshan, China.

The dates will remain the same with GB taking on China, Spain and Korea from 6-9 February with the decision taken following the recent outbreak of the coronavirus in China.

FIBA statement:

“After having carefully evaluated the developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak and placing as main priority the safety of the participating players and team delegation members, the FIBA Executive Committee decided to relocate the tournament to Belgrade, Serbia, where one of the other three FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be played.

“Besides the evident operational advantages that allow FIBA to offer appropriate conditions for such an important tournament qualifying for Tokyo 2020, entry into Serbia is possible without a visa for citizens of all four participating countries.”

British Basketball Federation chairman Maurice Watkins commented: “The health and safety of the players and staff is of paramount importance in this situation.

“We thank FIBA for taking swift action on this issue in difficult circumstances.”

Jo Leedham-Warner earlier led the calls for the tournament to be moved following examples from other sports.

GB recently played in Belgrade for the concluding stages of their historic run to fourth place at EuroBasket 2019 in the summer.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix