British Basketball has collected thousands of signatures of support from the public to help with their bid for a place to compete at their home Olympics in 2012.
GB Basketball player Sarah McKay signing in Newcastle
Over the past two weeks British Basketball has been touring a giant basketball jersey around the UK as part of their 'Say Yes' campaign. The activity is designed to create awareness of Sunday's (13 March 2011) decision by basketball's international federation, FIBA, as to whether the Standard Life GB men's and women's teams will be granted automatic qualification into London 2012. British Basketball's Chairman, Bill McInnes said: "This weekend we are standing on a precipice and peering into our future. Sunday's decision by the FIBA Central Board is the biggest day in our history. We are confident we have done the work on the court and our results are there for all to see.
"Our legacy plans post-2012 are strong and ambitious. London 2012 is only part of our journey and our T16 programme is focused on further developing our GB youngsters so that we can qualify in our own right for Rio. "We should thank Standard Life and all our sponsors, UK Sport, the home nation Associations and most of all, our fans for their loyal and unwavering support of our 'Say Yes' campaign. We look forward to your continued support in 2012 and beyond." The response from the British public is a resounding 'Yes'. Here are some top tweets from online fans rallying support:
slamdunkmclay: Come on all basketball fans!
BBCSport_Ollie: You may be aware GB basketball's Olympic future set to be decided this weekend. @inaminute23 asks if I can highlight #sayyestogb campaign.
beanie89: We all wanna see our boys ball with the best. #sayyestogb !!
statboyluke: Big decision comes on sunday! Retweet and follow @gbbasketball
Who_Got_Game: Just signed the @gbbasketball 'Say Yes' jersey-if you're hitting up the o2 tonight for the @NBA game, make sure you do too!
World Champion and Olympic medal winning triple jumper, Phillips Idowu, is also fully behind British Basketball's 'Say Yes' campaign, he said: "As a huge basketball fan I fully support the GB Basketball team competing at London 2012. "Basketball is a growing sport in this country and having a British team playing at their home Games would give a big boost to the game in the UK. I would also hope to get time to cheer the team on outside of my own commitments." FIBA's announcement will be streamed live on FIBA.com on Sunday 13 March from 18.00 GMT - exact timing depending on length of FIBA's decision process. No subscription required.
Visit the official GB Basketball site here BRITISH BASKETBALL
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