The 3×3 Belgian Lions came in a bad light last week due to the fraud that the team may have committed to participate in a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games. “It does not detract from their performance at the Games themselves, but it cannot be justified,” says basketball commentator Dennis Xhaët in our podcast De Tribune.
Dennis Xhaët followed the course of the 3×3 team closely as a commentator for Sporza. “It remains really impressive what they have done at the Games and they have really enforced their qualification in those qualifying tournaments,” says Xhaët.
“There were two: the first in Graz they did not win. They apparently committed fraud before that tournament. The tournament where they qualified was in Debrecen, a smaller tournament, where only countries were allowed to participate that did not have a basketball team at the last two Olympics.”
“There is a chance – and this is also apparent from the information I have – that they would have qualified for that second tournament anyway. If that is correct, they would have had their place at the Games. But it is still wrong what they did. “
Loophole
“I remain cautious about it, but it doesn’t look good. The clarification from De Standaard after the first article about the case makes a lot clear,” says Xhaët.
“On the FIBA site you can also find all organized tournaments and you can also find who participated. A lot of people have been contacted, I also polled some, and they also told me that they were not playing. One of them was not even living at the time in Belgium. They were indeed contacted by Nick Celis asking if he could use their profile.”
“There is also a loophole in the system. The system was all wrong, so it is also the responsibility of FIBA. They had created email addresses to see if it was that simple to register a tournament. And it was effectively that simple. But it’s not acceptable that you make up tournaments.”
“The blame for me therefore does not lie with the Belgian federation, but with the FIBA. How stupid are you not to inquire with the Belgian federation whether a tournament is actually taking place at that location. To send barely one controller. That’s standard isn’t it?”
“Other countries may have done it, but that doesn’t speak well”
Looks like the Lions are getting away with it. FIBA decided not to investigate the matter further. “Because there is too little evidence,” says Xhaët.
“But the logic says that if you have these cases, then you just have to conduct an investigation to prove whether or not cheating has taken place. If you think objectively, then you do it right? Now it remains in the air to hang.”
“By the way, there are still countries that seem to have ventured into this trick. The Philippines also participated in the second tournament, and between October 11 and November 1, 2019 – a very short period – they organized 14 tournaments, all with the same names.”
“And in Qatar they have organized 10 tournaments. That doesn’t speak well, but it does put things in perspective.”
“The Belgian federation will take this seriously”
The next stimulus was already in place for the growth of the 3×3 variant. In June 2022, the World Cup will come to the Groenplaats in Antwerp. But we now live differently.
“The Belgian federation will take this seriously,” says Dennis Xhaët. “The question is whether she will punish the entire team. For example, will there be a completely new team, with real Belgian Lions?”
“We must not forget that the 3×3 team is now playing at various tournaments. That may explain the lack of reaction.”
“Thibaut Vervoort has already spoken out. And it is important to mention that he only joined the team when the fraud had already been committed. He therefore speaks for himself. But I thought the reaction of captain Nick Celis was strange. Hopefully there will be a real reaction after the last tournament.”
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