Basketball: Britain hire Finch to guide fledgling team

The former Sheffield Sharks coach Chris Finch has been appointed coach of the new Great Britain national team.

Finch, 36, who is at Euphony Bree in Belgium, will coach the British team in EuroBasket Division B games later this year in an attempt to win promotion to Division A. Britain would then have a chance to qualify for the 2009 EuroBasket finals in Poland.

Great Britain have also appointed Mark Clark as the women's national team coach. One aim for the British men's and women's teams is to prove to the world governing body, that they will be competitive enough to merit places in the 2012 London Olympics.

Finch was voted coach of the year after leading the Sharks to the British title in the 1998-99 campaign. He steered Bree to the Belgian title last year.

Finch and Bree reached the eighth-finals and are currently in the Belgian play-off semi-finals, looking to capture a second consecutive championship.

Britain, who have taken up England's place in EuroBasket Division B, take on Albania, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Belarus this year.