Russian basketball team facing lawsuit from Colombia for allegedly posing as its national team
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Colombia's basketball federation said it will be taking legal action against an independent basketball team in Russia that allegedly used the name and uniforms of Colombia's national team.
The team is playing in a tournament, the Russian Friendship Cup, in the city of Perm. The tournament includes teams of Russian amateurs that are unofficially representing various national teams. The Colombian federation claims it never allowed a team in the tournament to use its likeness.
"The Colombian Basketball Federation did not grant endorsement to any club to participate in the Russian Friendship Cup," the organization said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the president of the Russian basketball federation, former NBA player Andrei Kirilenko, claims the team did coordinate with the Colombian government on private channels and did nothing improper.
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Retired Russian-American basketball player Andrei Kirilenko attends the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 draw ceremony at Shenzhen Bay Arena March 16, 2019, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. (Visual China Group via Getty Images)
"We would like to emphasize that all our interactions with the Colombian team took place exclusively through official communication channels," Kirilenko told Match TV. "Our position remains unchanged: All communications and coordination are conducted only through verified and official sources."
The team posing as Colombia has been one of the worst-performing teams in the tournament thus far. It was blown out 155-53 by a local squad before losing 108-57 to Venezuela. The team's next game was scheduled to be against Russia