Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) managed to find a sponsor that will pay 500K euros, the required amount by FIBA to bid for a wild card for World Chapionships 2010 but that might mean nothing. Sergei Chernov, the president of Russian Basketball Federation, visited Kaunas on Sunday as he attended a legendary battle between Zalgiris and CSKA Moscow.
One of the most influental people in Russian basketball was not missed by Lithuanian journalists. Sergei Chernov told Lrytas.lt that he wants Lithuania to get a wild card but it might not be that easy.
The main obstacle that Lithuania faces, according to Chernov, is lack of connections at the highest positions at FIBA. Despite being a legendary basketball country, Lithuania does not have a single representative at the highest positions neither at FIBA nor at FIBA Europe. And that could complicate the hopes of the basketball-crazed nation to see their beloved national team competing in Turkey next year.
When speaking about Russia's chances of being given the wild card Mr. Chernov was calm because one oft he major TV networks in Russia, NTV Plus, already spent over one million euros for the rights of FIBA competitions all the way till 2012 London Olympics. He also assured that FIBA will be picking the teams according to the original criteria.
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