Israel and the Soviet Union may resume relations on Feb. 13, 1975–not in the diplomatic arena but on the basket ball court, The match was determined by a lottery conducted by the European Basketball Federation (FIBA) in Munich last night to select contestants in the quarter finals of the European championship tournament next year. The leading Soviet team, the Red Army CSK, drew Israel’s championship Maccabi team as their opponents.
Whether the match will take place remained a moot question today. No Soviet representative was present at the drawing and the matching of the USSR with Israel was more by default than by chance. The Austrian delegate requested that his country’s team not be grouped with Israel because “Austria has enough troubles with the Arabs and the security arrangements with the Israelis are very complicated and costly.”
Bulgaria and Hungary refused to be matched against Israel, leaving only the Soviet Union. It was noted in sports circles that the Russians, at previous meetings, had never excluded the possibility of playing against an Israeli team. If neither side raised objections, a Russian team will come to Tel Aviv next Feb. 13 and an Israeli team will go to Moscow on Feb. 20.
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