Tomer Ginat will not be part of Israel's national basketball team for its coming World Cup qualifying window, ONE reports, after the captain was unable to get through full-intensity training this week because of a knee problem.
The Hapoel Tel Aviv forward, who only recently signed a contract extension keeping him at the club through 2030, has been managing the injury without success, according to the report, and the national team has decided not to risk him for a stretch of three games in eight days.
Israel's squad begins its preparations on Sunday, August 16, ahead of a warm-up match in Georgia on August 23. From there the group travels to Latvia for a World Cup qualifying double-header, facing Poland on August 27 and hosts Latvia on August 30.
Those two games count toward the second round of European qualifying for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027, where Israel sits in a group alongside Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Latvia, with the top three finishers advancing.
With Ginat out, head coach Ariel Beit-Halachmi is turning to Yam Madar to wear the captain's armband for the window. Madar, who has played for Fenerbahçe and FC Bayern Munich in recent seasons and is currently back at Hapoel Tel Aviv, has long been one of the squad's leaders on the floor and is a natural fit to take over the role in Ginat's absence.
Ginat has been a fixture of the senior national team setup for years and has previously played through pain for both club and country; he ended last season early because of a separate shoulder injury. His absence leaves Israel short of its captain and floor general as the qualifying campaign enters a pivotal stretch.
No fresh timeline for Ginat's return was given in the report, and Israel Sports Pulse will update this story once the national team confirms his status for the following qualifying window in November.
