Basketball New Zealand

Tall Blacks receive silver medals at 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games (Photosport)

Basketball New Zealand will continue to support attempts to have basketball included in future Commonwealth Games, despite the cancellation of this year’s FIBA Commonwealth Championship for Men in India.

The world body has called off the event scheduled for Bangalore in August after concerns from some of the Commonwealth’s leading basketball nations that it would not fit comfortably into this year’s international calendar.

New Zealand, Australia and Canada have all qualified for the FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey later that month, while Great Britain face qualifying rounds for the 2011 FIBA Eurobasket Championship during that same period.

This congested timetable made it unlikely any of those countries could field full-strength teams.

“Gaining admittance back into the Commonwealth Games is crucial for the sport in New Zealand,” confirmed BBNZ chief executive Tim Hamilton.

“We have a proven record of success at that level and the Commonwealth Games represent a pinnacle event that is important to New Zealanders. They are an opportunity for both men and women to access SPARC funding, while allowing us to promote the game locally and create other commercial partnerships.”

Basketball made its debut at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, where the Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns won silver medals, losing to Australia in their respective finals.

But the global game, boasting the second biggest international membership of any sport (behind volleyball), will not be contested at Delhi this year nor at Glasgow in 2014. Both New Zealand and Australia are among the candidates to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the next opportunity for basketball to return.

FIBA, always seeking new markets to conquer, is particularly keen to have its code back in the Games, but realizes it needs to build a basketball culture among Commonwealth nations.

“We certainly hope this is not the end of the Commonwealth basketball championship,” says Hamilton. “We would have struggled to give it the support its deserves this year, but it could fit better as a buildup to the 2011 FIBA Oceania Championships.”

In recent days, Al Qaeda terrorist threats have hung over international sporting events in India this year. While security and health are always issues when visiting the sub-continent, FIBA’s decision to cancel the Commonwealth championship was made before the latest threats emerged and was primarily driven by scheduling.

In the meantime, Basketball New Zealand has had no shortage of invitations for the Tall Blacks to tour overseas and is close to confirming a schedule for their world championship preparation.