Basketball
The first boycott by a Russian team is a fact after the military intervention in Ukraine
Lithuanian Siauliai and Latvian Liepaja refused to play Russia’s Enisei and their European North Basketball League games were cancelled.
The European North Basketball League, an organization under the invisible umbrella of FIBA with teams from the former Eastern Bloc, was set to become the first league to announce the cancellation of games in the wake of Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
Both Lithuanian Siauliai, coached by Adana Sireika, and Latvian Liepaja refused to host Enisei from Krasnoyarsk on February 25 and 26 respectively, with the result that both matches were canceled and removed from the calendar.
In fact, the ENBL leadership said that the next steps will be announced later, indicating that nothing should be ruled out for the future of the Russian team in the tournament.
Croatian coach Enisei Drazen Andzulovic, played by former Prometheus and Panathinaikos player Rion Brown, is unbeaten so far at 4/4. Any sanctions will hit her both competitively and morally as she was among the favorites for the trophy.
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.