David Blatt: Britain took up Russia’s place in the London Olympics

Russia national team coach David Blatt claimed that the British basketball team does not deserve its place in the London 2012 Olympic tournament, which it took at Russia’s expense.

Russia lost to France 79-71 in the Eurobasket semi-finals, meaning it missed out on the two automatic Olympic qualification places given to the tournament’s finalists.

And, according to the Israeli coach, in a normal year Russia would have already qualified for the Olympics, but it was budged out by the British team, who got in automatically.

«Only because the Olympics are in London this year, the British team received a free pass, and that was at our expense, basically. That’s the politics of the situation, and that’s what it is. It’s part of the picture, not a whole lot that I can do about it,» Blatt complained, speaking to RIA Novosti.