Double blow for Irish basketball

Ireland’s men and women’s international basketball teams both suffered defeats in their European Championship matches against Slovakia and Sweden respectively on Saturday.

The men came away from a tense battle against the much fancied Slovakians with just a three point loss (70 -67), while the women were disappointed to go down 87-62 to a strong Swedish team.

The Irish women resume championship action on Wednesday against Estonia at the University of Limerick and face Luxembourg on Saturday at the ESB Basketball Arena. Both games tip off at 7.30.