TNT Sports
Tel Aviv awaits Euroleague
By
Published 28/04/2004 at 12:04 GMT+1
Israel will mount its biggest ever security operation for a sports event when Tel Aviv hosts European basketball's showcase tournament, the Euroleague Final Four, this week. Follow eurosport.com's LIVE coverage tipping off with Siena against Skipper Bologna Thursday at 18:10 cet!!
Eurosport
Image credit: TNT Sports
Some 3,500 police officers, security guards and stewards -- more than one for every three spectators -- will throw a cordon around the Yad Eliahu arena where the three-day event begins on Thursday.
"The forces will be deployed from the moment the teams arrive until their departure on Sunday," Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon told reporters. "Entry to the arena will be as it would to an airport or a government office."
Fears of Palestinian reprisals for Israel's assassination of two leaders of the militant group Hamas have led to more jitters than usual in the Jewish state, long beset by security fears.
Italian fans of two of the finalists, Montepaschi Siena and Skipper Bologna, have vowed to stay away and CSKA Moscow are bringing a smaller than expected contingent of 750 followers.
But with the hugely popular Maccabi Tel Aviv also featuring in the Final Four, Israel has made the event a high national priority.
Maccabi's chairman, Shimon Mizrahi, was hailed as a national hero for standing firm against moves by the other finalists to move the tournament to what they regarded as a safer venue after Israel's killing of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin in a helicopter missile attack last month.
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
Yassin's successor, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, was also killed by Israel earlier this month. Hamas has sworn to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state. Its members have carried out suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis.
After the intervention of Israeli government ministers, the Union of European Basketball Leagues (ULEB), the event's organisers, decided last month not to move the Final Four.
"The message put out by the Euroleague represents a victory for democracies over the forces of darkness," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said after the ULEB vote.
Basketball is Israel's second most popular sport after soccer and Maccabi Tel Aviv, who have won the domestic championship in 33 of the last 35 seasons and have been the European champions three times, are regarded as national representatives.
Unlike soccer in Israel, basketball has been largely unaffected by international bans due to security fears.
For two years, Israeli soccer teams were not permitted to host international matches because of security concerns, until the sport's European governing body, UEFA, lifted its ban last week.
VALENCIA FINED
After Yassin was killed in Gaza on March 22, Spanish basketball team Pamesa Valencia refused to travel to Tel Aviv to play Maccabi for a place in the Final Four.
Valencia had hoped that the ULEB would agree with them that Israel was too dangerous a venue but officials awarded victory to Maccabi and fined the Spanish side 5,000 euros.
ULEB chief executive Jordi Bertomeu said he was sad that most Italian fans had decided to stay away this week after the decision to confirm Tel Aviv as the Final Four venue.
"I feel a little uncomfortable," Bertomeu said on Sunday. "I respect their decision and expect them to respect ours but they have missed out on a chance to see European basketball at its finest."
Home fans, clad in their traditional yellow colours will be the major force in the 10,000-seat hall where tickets for both nights of competition -- Thursday and Saturday -- cost some 2,500 shekels ($500).
The high price has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of the Israeli fans and the morning after Maccabi qualified several of them flew to Moscow especially to buy up tickets from Russian fans who had decided not to make the trip to Tel Aviv.
Related Topics
Advertisement
Advertisement