Belize’s national men’s basketball selection earned silver at the
COCABA championships in Cancun in August – but tonight those medals are
in jeopardy. That’s because the team has lost the appeal which was heard
at FIBA Headquarters in Switzerland in September. The decision was handed down
today. It is 18 pages long and states that the appeal is dismissed and Belize’s
Federation has to pay costs.
Viewers will recall that the Belize Basketball Federation had to appeal FIBA’s
decision which ruled 7 of its players ineligible because they were born in the
United States. Because of that, the tournament was played under protest, meaning
that if Belize successfully appealed the decision – the team’s second
place finish would stand and the players would get to keep their medals and
the trophy; if not, well they’d have to give it back.
So now that they’ve officially lost the appeal, will they really have
to return those medals? According to President of the Basketball Federation
Paul Thompson, he is disappointed but all is not lost; they can still make another
appeal. They can go to the Court Of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland.
So will the Belize Federation go there? Thompson told us they have to sit down
as an Executive Committee with their lawyer and weigh their options.
As for the judgment, according to FIBA’s judge, the bottom line is that
the evidence furnished the Belize Federation did not convince the Chairman that
the U.S born players acquired Belizean nationality before their 16th birthdays
– which is the FIBA requirement for eligibility on a national team. The
Belize Federation argued that under the Belize Constitution, the players were
considered Belizeans at birth – regardless of where they were born.
We’ll have more on this tomorrow.
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