The Israel Basketball League held a special opening event at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv which was attended by the Minister of Culture and Sports Hili Tropper. In addition, the Winner league held a special ceremony for the recently retired Lior Eliyahu along with a number of other players including Avi Ben Chimol, Nitzan Hanochi, Aviram Zelicovitz and Yuval Naimi.

The league chairman Shmuel Frankel opened the event as he looked forward to the new season with the hope that there would be no stoppages due to the coronavirus, “I’m proud that we are beginning a new season and the fact that we were able to end the last two season on the court, this one even more exciting and hopefully will not be with any stops. I want to recognize that the Minister of Culture and Sports Hili Tropper is with us as well as the league’s main sponsor Winner who have been with us for many years and accompanied us through the tough times the past couple of years.”

MK Hili Tropper also spoke about the importance of following health guidelines as well as using sports as something for the good of society, “I’m happy to be here and I want to thank Shmuel Frankel and all of the team’s management as well as the players that are retiring. Sports allow people to take a break from day to day life and we want to continue to see the teams compete.”

“We need the fans to wear masks at games and follow the guidelines. We will do our part but we need cooperation from everyone else. We also want to see arenas continued to be built around the country to raise the standards. We will put in the first funding and look for partners which are the local municipalities. Whether it’s Rishon, Netanya, Nes Ziona and other places in the north and the south.”

Following a short question and answer session with the press the league honored Aviram Zelicovitz, Yuval Naimi, Nitzan Hanochi, Avi Ben Chimol and Lior Eliyahu after they had announced that they were stepping away from the game of basketball.