By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After Fenerbahce’s official reaction to the EuroLeague decision to postpone the game against Paris for medical reasons, the French club presented its view on the matter.
Paris states that the club had only six players available for the game. It has to be noted that Paris doesn’t have a junior team which could have helped the roster and also there is such a provision on the rules of the EuroLeague which was added during the COVID pandemic and permits the postponement of games.
With that being said, in the press release the nature of the virus that affected the Paris roster is not clarified.
According to the press release, “As of Thursday morning, the Club had only six medically fit players to train, leading the EuroLeague to postpone the evening game due to a virus that had affected almost the entire team. As a reminder, on Tuesday night, three players were too sick to travel to the Adidas Arena for the game vs Real Madrid, and another tried to play but was ultimately forced to withdraw due to discomfort.
This Friday, the professional squad trained in three separate groups to avoid any further spread: players affected by the virus or recovering were isolated from the four who were not affected.
At the moment we are monitoring the situation very closely, 24 hours a day.
Furthermore, Paris Basketball deeply regrets that many fans—ours as well as those of Fenerbahçe—were unable to attend this match, which marked the 17th day of the EuroLeague.
Our thoughts go out to the loyal Fenerbahçe fans who traveled a long distance to come to the Adidas Arena. We would like to remind all ticket holders that their tickets will be valid for the rescheduled match, in coordination with Fenerbahçe and the EuroLeague.
However, it was simply not reasonable to play last night for all those present in the hall, who could have come into contact with our players and staff – including those from Fenerbahçe.
Furthermore, it would not have been fair to the spectators to offer a match below EuroLeague standards, as stipulated in the competition regulations which allow for the postponement of a match when a team has fewer than eight players available”.