The men's team clinched their second consecutive qualification for the European Championships when they beat Bosnia & Herzegovina 94-85 while the women qualified for their first with a 77-59 hammering of Germany.

The hope now is that it is enough to convince FIBA that they are both worthy of a place in the Olympics, where only 12 teams can take part in each tournament.

Patrick Baumann, the secretary general of FIBA and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), revealed on the eve of the World Championships in Turkey that Britain would find out next spring or summer whether they will be given one of the spots.

But he gave them plenty of hope for optimism when the decision is announced.

"It's [scheduled for] before the European Championships," Baumann said.

One of the criteria, Baumann revealed, is demonstrating that there is a long-term plan for the development of the sport in Britain.

He believe the stakes are high for both Britain and basketball, which sees the UK as potentially a major new market for them and the NBA.

"I prefer people to get down and put down their strategy for 2018 and 2020 and say, 'OK, how are we going to take this forward'," Baumann said.

"I think it's a matter for those who run basketball in the UK to argue, to discuss how to make the sport a success, how they are going to move forward after the Olympics [so] that the funding won't stop, that the whole GB team won't disappear.

"It's an amazing opportunity for basketball.

"I have to be optimistic.

"I don't want to lose the UK.

"I want to win the UK as much as the NBA wants the UK.

"Everyone wants the UK.

"It's a big market.

"Great Britain is host to multi-national companies.

"So I think it's clear for the NBA why they want the U.K.''

Chris Finch (pictured), the coach of the men's team, believes Britain have done enough to ensure their participation at London 2012.

"I can’t change what happens off the court, but we’ve met every performance mark they’ve [FIBA] laid down and we believe we’re entitled to our rightful spot by the way we’ve played," he said.

"I’m really proud of what our guys have done."

It has been five years of success for Britain's men, having gained promotion from Division-B at the first attempt and then qualified for back-to-back European Championships.

"This one [qualification] is more satisfying than the last one," said Finch.

"No one outside the GB organisation expected us to be here, but I said to the guys that we had to prove ourselves all over again.

"We’ve show it wasn’t a fluke two years ago, we’ve had a taste of it and we think that we belong at that level.

"We learned a lot last year, and hopefully we’ll build on that this time."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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