The Ukraine men’s basketball team link arms ahead of an international friendly against Portugal in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, on Saturday.
Photo: CNA
2022/06/28 03:00
/ Staff writer, with CNA
Ukraine’s men’s national basketball team are to wear the logo of P.League+’s Kaohsiung Steelers in their upcoming games at the FIBA Basketball World Cup European qualifiers, the Steelers said on Sunday.
Ukraine are to wear the Kaohsiung Steelers logo on the left front side of their basketball shorts when they play against Georgia at Arena Riga in Latvia on Friday and North Macedonia at the Boris Trajkovski Sports Center in Skopje on Monday next week, the Steelers said in a statement.
The move is a gesture by the Ukraine team to thank Taiwan and Taiwanese for lending a hand to the players in their time of need, the Steelers said.
The Taiwanese team invited and hosted a delegation of four people from the Ukraine men’s national basketball team, led by team manager Andrii Lebediev, in Taiwan between April 5 and May 17, to facilitate professional exchanges between the two teams on sports club management and training.
During Lebediev’s visit to Taiwan, he said at a news conference on April 30 in Kaohsiung that he hoped to bring 14 players to Taiwan to train for games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup European qualifying tournament.
Lebediev said that bringing the team to Taiwan would help his players get a small respite from the constant stress they have faced over Russia’s invasion of their nation.
However, Taiwan’s basketball association asked that the team visit Taiwan in early August to play in the William Jones Cup, which was canceled the previous two years because of challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES