FIBA Suspends Greek, Serbian Players
Greece and Serbia will be without several of their top players when they open their campaign in the 2010 World Basketball Championships in Turkey tomorrow. World governing body FIBA suspended Serbian players Nenad Krstic and Milos Teodosic and Greek stalwarts Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis for their participation in a brawl during a warm-up game between the two European powerhouses on 19 August.
The 7ft Krstic, who plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the National Basketball Association, will miss Serbia's first three games while Olympiacos Piraeus guard Teodosic will sit out the first two. Greek captain Fotsis, who once played for the Memphis Grizzlies, and burly centre Schortsanitis were slapped two-game suspensions.
The melee erupted with two minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the final game of the Acropolis Tournament when Fotsis and Teodosic engaged in an altercation after the latter committed a hard foul. Players from both squads exchanged kicks and punches following the altercation. Krstic then hurled a chair towards an onrushing Schortsanitis, hitting Greek player Yannis Bouroussis in the process. Bouroussis, who did not play due to a hand injury, suffered a wound on the side of his head. The game was abandoned shortly after with the Greeks leading 74-73.
The players involved were not longer surprised with the suspensions slapped against them. "This is the decision. We can’t change it. It was very difficult not to punish us. We accept this punishment," said Fotsis, who plays for Panathinaikos.
"I am not angry. We expected it," said Schortsanitis, who is often referred to as the European version of NBA big man Shaquille O'Neal.
"We expected something like this. Of course I am disappointed. Now, it’s behind us and I don’t want to talk about it too much," Krstic said.
Meanwhile, the head coaches of Greece and Serbia were not happy with FIBA's decision to suspend their top players just a day before the tournament begins. Greek mentor Jonas Kazlauskas said the absence of Fotsis and Schortsanitis will definitely hurt his team's campaign in the group stage. "This is something unbelievable," he said.
Serbia head coach Dusan Ivkovic, on the other hand, said the governing body should have made a decision much earlier. “We have to react in a very short time, I have to prepare my players mentally," the 66-year-old said.
Greece will play China in their opening Group C game in Ankara tomorrow before facing Puerto Rico on Sunday. The Greeks will take on hosts Turkey on 31 August, Cote d'Ivoire on 1 September, before closing out their group campaign against Russia on 2 September. Greece won a silver medal four years ago in Saitama, losing to Spain, 47-70, in the finals. They finished fourth in the 1994 and 1998 editions of the quadrennial meet.
Group A favourites Serbia, meanwhile, will face Angola in Kayseri tomorrow before battling Germany on Sunday. The Serbians, who finished runner-up to Spain in last year’s European Championships, will play Jordan on 30 August, Australia on 1 September and Argentina on 2 September. Serbia are seeking their first world title as an independent nation. The former Yugoslavia won back-to-back crowns in 1998 and 2002, adding to their success in 1970, 1978 and 1990.
Only the top four teams in each group will advance to the Round-of-16 knockout stage. The gold medal game will be held in Istanbul on 12 September. Group B (Istanbul) is made up of Olympic champions United States, Brazil, Slovenia, Croatia, Iran and Tunisia, while Group C (Izmir) is composed of defending champions Spain, France, Canada, Lithuania, New Zealand and Lebanon. The Americans, who last won the world championships in 1994, will parade a young squad led by NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant.
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