Lithuania’s bid to host the pre-Olympic
tournament will face unexpected rivalry, as the Macedonian government decided
to try to seek for the rights to host the event as well.
A step to bid for the pre-Olympic tournament
was taken without the notice of the Macedonian Basketball Federation, which had
agreed with the Lithuanian counterparts not to compete amongst each other.
“I’m deeply surprised by this move, as the
Macedonians had guaranteed us that they will not bid for the event,” Mindaugas Balciunas, the
General Secretary of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF), told BasketNews.lt.
However, Balciunas did admit that the example
of the Macedonian government was in a way an exemplary one of how governments
should take initiative, understanding the importance of such events.
“It is the way it is. We aren’t thinking about
losing and I think we’ll prove that Lithuania is the best candidate,” said the
official.
FIBA haven’t confirmed whether Macedonia have
paid the initial 20,000 Swiss franc fee, which had to be transferred by Monday
evening.
“We aren’t sure whether the Macedonians
transferred the fee in time and we’ll seek to find this out as soon as
possible,” Balciunas said.
Lithuania made the payment to FIBA already last
week on Thursday and it was looking like Lithuania was going to be the only
country to do so.
