GENEVA (AP) _ Britain's hopes of qualifying for the basketball tournament at the 2012 London Olympics are in jeopardy because of a dispute between national authorities and the sport's world governing body.
FIBA, the international basketball federation, said Wednesday it will suspend all of the British team's English players as of June 15 because British sporting authorities are withholding funds for the program.
The move puts a major dent in Britain's efforts to qualify for the Olympics, because the team will now be unable to call up NBA-based England players such as Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls.
``We cannot accept that governments interfere in the affairs of sport and dissolve our membership,'' FIBA spokesman Florian Wanninger said. ``This will completely jeopardize their campaign to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. This is a serious consequence.''
Sport England's move to withhold funding for basketball follows an official review of the sport in England. The review declared basketball ``not fit for purpose'' and called for the English governing body to be disbanded.
``We don't understand the conclusion. They've had considerable success in improving the situation of teams and players eligible,'' Wanninger said, adding that the suspension of the English association was the only option possible as long as there is ``a power struggle over control of the sport.''
Britain is 2-2 in its qualifying games for the 2009 European championship, which will determine which teams compete at the 2012 Games.
It is one point behind Netherlands and Belarus in its qualifying group with four games remaining. The top team from each of Europe's three groups automatically qualifies, with the best second-place team gaining a fourth sport.
Besides Deng, the British team hoped to call up Dallas Mavericks forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Golden State Warriors guard Kelenna Azubuike for its next qualifying matches.
Deng, a 22-year-old player from Sudan who grew up in London, became a British citizen last year. He averaged 18.8 points in his third NBA season, but saved his best for the playoffs, averaging 26.3 points and shooting 58 per cent in the Bulls' four-game sweep of the defending NBA champion Miami Heat.
Scotland's Kieron Achara, a junior at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania who was named to the Atlantic-10 defensive team, is still eligible when qualifying play resumes in August.
The FIBA ban will also affect the British women's team.
