Basketball-Ukraine refuses to host 2017 European championship

KIEV, June 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine will not host the European basketball championship in 2017 due to lack of funding and military turbulence on the East of the country, its Youth and Sports minister said on Thursday. "We are refusing from staging Eurobasket", Ihor Zhdanov was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian News Agency. Six cities in Ukraine were initially supposed to hold the Eurobasket 2015, but the competition was later relocated to Germany, France, Latvia and Croatia after preparations were disrupted by the economic and political crisis in the country. Instead, Ukraine were granted the preference as hosts for the Eurobasket 2017. (Reporting by Igor Nitsak; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)