Teams of Russian basketball players have been barred from upcoming men’s, women’s and 3x3 world championships due to the war in Ukraine.
FIBA’s announcement Wednesday was an extension of its indefinite ban on Russian teams from March.
The first affected tournaments are the men’s and women’s 3x3 World Cups in Belgium next month.
Russian Olympic Committee teams won silver medals in the men’s and women’s 3x3 tournaments in Tokyo in that event’s Olympic debut.
Russian players are also barred from the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Australia in September.
Russia and Belarus were also withdrawn from qualifying tournaments for next year’s FIBA Men’s World Cup.
That at least dents, if not ends altogether, their hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Olympic men’s basketball tournament. FIBA has yet to respond to a request for clarification on how it impacts Olympic qualification, which is largely dependent on participation in the latter stages of 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifying.
Russia didn’t qualify full men’s or women’s teams for either of the last two Olympics. It won Olympic bronze medals in 2012 (men, led by Andrei Kirilenko) and 2008 (women, led by Becky Hammon).
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