Shay Shtriks: EUROHOLD Balkan League has nothing to do with referees nominations in Bulgaria

The referees for the fifth and decisive game from the semifinal series between Balkan and Levski from Buglarian playoffs were from Greece. Therefore there were some rumours and unofficial claims involving Mr. Shay Shtriks - the Sports Director of EUROHOLD Balkan League, regarding a possible role of him in the nomination. Here is his response to that:   "EUROHOLD Balkan League and I as Sports Director of the competition, have absolutely no part in making the nominations for the game in Bulgarian NBL or any other league. The only official body that can invite referees from abroad is Bulgarian basketball federation and as far as I′m aware the nominations for the matches in Bulgaria are made by the Referees commission. My job is to take care for EUROHOLD Balkan League, for the officiating in the competiton and for the referees nominations for the matches only in this tournament. The nomination from yesterday is a decision of Greek federation which has been approved by FIBA.   In connection with the things that happened in recent days, I gave instructions to EUROHOLD Balkan League Competition Manager - Mr. Kamen Toshev, who is also a member of the Referees commission, to not take part in the nominations for the Finals and the matches for 3/4 place, and the reason for this is the fact that there are a lot of uncompetent and malicious people who want to draw me, Kamen Toshev and EUROHOLD Balkan League with the teams from NBL, the managemend of NBL and the one of Bulgarian basketball federation.   I have my own opinion regarding what is going on at the moment with the referees in Bulgaria but because it′s personal, I intent to keep it for myself and not share it. I even took my own decision not to be commissioner for the playoffs until the end of the season in order to prevent statements that I influence the referees decisions in one or other way due to the fact that two of the teams are part of EUROHOLD Balkan League.   Once again I want to say that my job is to focus on the developing of EUROHOLD Balkan League and starting from tomorrow there will be a lot of news regarding the new season.   Finally I want to wish good luck to the teams for the remaining games in Buglaria - in the Finals series and the one for 3/4 place, and also to the referees that will officiate the games whether they are from Bulgaria or somewhere else."