NBA stars to take part in the London International Basketball Invitational
San Antonio Spurs Tony Parker, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng from Chicago Bulls are the top members of a group of National Basketball Association players that are heading to United Kingdom, not to play in the local league due to the
lockout, but to take part in the 2012 Olympics Games preparations.
The group is going with the permission of NBA and relevant teams of the players. Remaining members of the group include New York Knicks Ronny Turiaf, Boris Diaw from Charlotte Bobcats and two players from the Washington Wizards,
Kevin Seraphin and Yi Jianlian.
The London International Basketball Invitational will witness six top national teams’ of men from around the globe compete against each other in the new basketball arena, build specially for 2012 event in east London at Olympic
Park.
According to Debbie Jevans, director of sport for the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, “Having our first test event on Olympic Park makes the Games seem even closer and excitement is building. We are looking forward
to hosting our first ever tournament in the Basketball Arena and testing our operations.”
The participants of the London Prepare series France, Australia Great Britain, China, Croatia and Serbia will play a round-robin system. The Invitational will commence from August 16 and will last until 21 of the same month.
Among these six teams, France looks more solid because four of the NBA players (Parker, Noah, Turiaf and Diaw) are part of their roster. Deng will feature in Great Britain’s roster, but will be available for the last two games
only.
In contrast to all these players, Milwaukee Bucks Andrew Bogut will serve the Australian squad as their coach. Andrew was assigned the post because he is still recovering from the elbow surgery he had incurred in the recent past.
The above mentioned players are playing for their national sides because their respective squads were able to arrange insurance for them. It isn’t easy for the national teams to bear the coast of these players, as they do not possess
the same financials that is enjoyed by NBA, which bears the insurance cost under normal circumstance, but is not supposed to do the same in the lockout.
The new arena has a sitting capacity for 12,000 people, but for the trial run only 3,000 seats will be available. Earlier this event was in serious jeopardy, as the riots spread in most part of the U.K. The arena was named wedding
cake by the local press because of its look and after the games it will be taken to bits in order to reutilize as for the other events on Britain or even abroad.
This will be a great practice for the teams, before the FIBA Euro-basket, that is starting from August 31 and will last till September 18 in Lithuania.
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