Italians Hinder Development Of Armenian Basketball

ITALIANS HINDER DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN BASKETBALL

Lragir, Armenia
July 26 2007

The Armenian Federation of Basketball reported that the embassy
of Italy did not permit the girls’ team leave for Italy where the
games of Division B of the European championship set out July 27. The
team coached by Edik Vardanyan was included in Group D with Germany,
Israel and Romania.

On July 27 Armenia would be playing with Germany. The Federation of
Basketball of Armenia is disappointed with this decision because
it was very important for us to participate in this important
tournament. After a long pause the Armenian basketball players had a
chance to participate in international tournaments but were unable to
arrive in the country of the tournament due to this decision of the
embassy of Italy. The International Federation of Basketball was aware
of these developments and made efforts but was unable to change the
decision. The Basketball Federation of Italy and the organizational
committee had sent an invitation to Armenia, so there was no reason
for refusal.