The Belize Basketball Federation will have its appeal heard by The Court of
Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. In November we told you that
the Federation had taken a decision to take its appeal of an adverse decision
by a FIBA tribunal to that court – which is the highest body for the settlement
of disputes in all of sport. But the decision to go there is one thing and making
all the steps in between is another.
The Federation and its attorney Godfrey Smith had to make written submissions,
name an adjudicator and finally, pay fifteen Thousand Swiss francs to the court
by last week Thursday the tenth of December. That’s a little over thirty
thousand Belize dollars - and funding was provided by the Prime Minister’s
Office and the Taiwanese Embassy Now the Federation awaits a date for a hearing
which will be Lausanne, Switzerland.
As we’ve reported, the BBF will argue that the US born Belizean American
players who represented Belize at the COCABA Championships in Cancun have been
ruled ineligible by FIBA. The appeal seeks to establish that they were considered
Belizeans at birth regardless of where they were born because they are the children
of Belizean parents as assured in the Belize Constitution and Immigration law.
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