Israel looks to the future

Israel will name a 12-man squad for the Under 18 Future Stars International Junior Tournament at Kingston College from July 10-12.

Coached by Danny Franco, the squad is competing at the competition for the first time. They line up in a group alongside Russia, Lithuania and Italy.

Franco said: “The event is very important to the development of Israeli basketball as we lack high level international games. Our players need better competition than they get in the Israeli league.

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Immanuel boys are the Bs’ knees

Immanuel College Year 10 won the Watford and District Schools’ B League Championship. David Moss, head of PE at Immanuel, said: “However close their matches were, the team’s spirit and determination ensured victory. All seven players were outstanding, and captain Adam Schwartz and Benji Weinberger were the major point scorers for the team.”

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Net gains

Three schools claimed silverware at the Maccabi GB Secondary Schools Boys Basketball tournament at JFS.

Hasmonean were the star attraction in the Year 11 competition. They beat JFS and Immanuel College along the way. JFS finished second by virtue of beating Immanuel.

King Solomon edged home in the Years Nine and 10 event. The Essex school pipped Immanuel to the post courtesy of a single basket victory. Hasmonean finished in third.

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Yavneh and Hasmo fill their baskets with gold

Yavneh College and Hasmonean took the honours at Maccabi GB’s secondary girls school’s basketball tournament in Kenton, North West London.

Split into two age categories, the first Jewish schools tournament of 2009 featured teams from four schools.

Yavneh and Hasmonean were evenly matched in the years eight and nine competition with Hasmonean winning by virtue of scoring one extra basket. JFS finished third.

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GB athletes boosted by major deal

Maccabi GB has continued its preparations for next summer’s 18th Maccabiah Games by announcing a new and unprecedented partnership deal with Village Hotels worth in the region of a quarter of a million pounds.

The agreement will see Village Hotels offering complimentary membership of their state-of-the-art fitness clubs to each member of Team GB taking part in the Maccabiah Games in Israel in July 2009.

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Big Macc squeezed on funds

There are fears that next year's Jewish Olympics could be scaled down as a result of the credit crunch.

The latest financial crisis engulfing July's Maccabiah Games revolves around the failure of the organisers to raise sufficient sponsorship funds due to the global recession.

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Doron has a ball as Britain misses out on finals

Israel's women qualified for the Eurobasket 2009 finals in Latvia after beating Britain 75-69 in Tel Aviv.

Former WNBA star Shay Doron starred with 28 points as the Israelis secured victory in the closing stages. The hosts found the going much tougher than when they beat Britain 100-80 in Cardiff last month.

Israel's victory saw them qualify for the 16-team European finals for the second consecutive time after finishing top of a group that also included Lithuania, Ukraine and Germany.

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Hapoel surprise

Hapoel Holon ended Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 15-year dominance of the Israeli League championship by beating the yellows 73-72 in a thrilling finale to the season.

In one of the biggest sensations in the nation’s basketball history, this was the first time that Maccabi had failed to win the championship since 1993 and only the second time since 1969.

Holon’s Malik Dixon scored the winning basket two seconds before the buzzer as Maccabi finished the season empty-handed.

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