# Israel's qualification to EC03



## Reznor (Jan 17, 2003)

Yo,

I'm not sure how many of u know this, so let me start with the details.


Before the games on Saturday the situation was like this.

Hungary had 5 wins, 38+ goal difference and a road game vs. Estonia. 
Israel had only 4 wins, 3+ goal difference, and a home game Vs. Romania.

All Hungary had to do is win by one point to qualify, but they lost 88-75... that gave Israel a chance to go for the last ticket to Sweden. All they had to do is win by 23 points (22 was no good, cause Hungary scored more points...).

Anyways, a few weeks before the game the Israeli TV asked to postpone the game to Sunday, cause it wasn't possible for them to broadcast it live on Saturday.

Israel asked Romania, they agreed and the case moved to FIBA. Lord knows why...FIBA approved. Hungary applied and asked to move the game back to Saturday to prevent a situation where Israel knows what margin they need to qualify, but FIBA ignored that.

anyways, game was on Sunday. Israel knew they had to win by 23 points exactly... opened the game with full court pressure..and by the end of the first was up by 16. By the 15th minute Israel was leading by...23 points. Romania, i'll give them that, did fight back in the 2nd half, and closed the gap to 9, but then Israel went full court pressure again and won by 28.

Israel in Sweden, Hungary in...Hungary.

I don't think any1 think FIBA should have agreed to postpone the game. I think they even tried to hide that, because on FIBA.com the date and time of the game was Saturday... I believe it got alot with the friendship going on between Vassilikopolous and the Israeli federation chairman Danny Kesten (president of FIBA's competitions board or something..if u ever wondered who's the genius behind the Champions and Challenge cup system...). Else I can't think of any other reason. Hosting Israel is a headache, with all the extra security stuff needed. Especially in this time, and when ur talking about a 10 days thing, and not a single game. It would make much more sense if FIBA was trying to avoid having Israel in the EC (and I would totally understand that...). 

now, Hungary did have their chance to qualify. if they had won in Estonia, Israel-Romania was meaningless. and I believe that even if the games were at the same time, Israel would have aim for a huge difference in anycase. Postponing the game only gave them the knowledge of the exact needed number. 

So now it's your turn. Do you think it was a fair play? 

btw, if there was any reference to this story in your local media, attacking FIBA or Israel, I'd love if you could gimme the titles and the source.


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## starvydas (Jul 16, 2002)

Yeah I heard about the story. Honestly, I think FIBA is just a joke. I don't know if there was any interest struggle in favor of Israel or if the FIBA officials are just too dumb to understand the stupidity of the thing, but it is obvious the game should have been played at the same time as Hungary/Estonia.

Medias in France didn't really make a great fuss about it (basketball is still a marginal sport at best) but the national sport newspaper mentionned it and blamed FIBA for their rather weird sense of fair play.


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