Its survival seemed to hang by a thread, but during this Pentecost weekend there will be another Holland Nordic Basketball Tournament (HNBT) in Groningen.
It is the 26th edition of the international tournament for young basketball players. Initiators Jeffrey Kraaijenhagen and chairman Bart Prak passed the (digital) cap and found many basketball fans at home and abroad willing to donate for the continued existence of the HNBT, which ran into problems due to the loss of municipal subsidies.
In the under-21 teams, participants come from Belgium, Serbia, Germany and the Netherlands. The defending champion is the COREtec Basketball Academy (formerly Filou Oostende). Limburg United is also represented on behalf of its southern neighbours. Last year’s number last, KK Actavis from Leskovac in South Serbia, is also present. From Germany, EWE Baskets from Oldenburg, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and the Towers from Hamburg will be present.
Donar
In addition, the talents of Donar are represented, who finished third in the national competition and got stuck in the play-offs in the semi-finals. The Dutch national team under-20 is also participating.
Younger youth also get involved during the HNBT. While the under-21 players play their matches in the Vinkhuizen sports hall, the youngest talents play against international opponents in the Europapark sports complex (under-12 and under-14) and the Gomarus College sports hall (under-16). The competition schedules can be found on www.hnbt.nl.