Patrick Baumann, secretary-general of FIBA, following meetings with Basketball Scotland's officials in Edinburgh, has reaffirmed his demand that the home nations decide by June whether they want to retain a single Great Britain team at senior level or return to fielding separate sides after this summer's Olympic Games.

A proposal to formally restructure the game, which would involve England Basketball, Basketball Wales and their Scottish counterparts merging into a new federation, is being finalised. It is expected to recommend that the current high-perfor-mance structure that oversees the GB programme and the British Basketball League, would be merged into the new entity.

Despite concerns that talented young Scots would get fewer opportunities to make their mark, Baumann believes that maintaining the momentum generated by Britain's growing success on the international stage in recent years is paramount.

"It's about looking into the crystal ball and seeing into a future of British teams being able to compete at the highest level and how this is going to help the level of the home nations," he said.

"You have to believe that completing the pact among the home nations will help the growth of basketball. You have to take a giant leap of faith. If you are a volunteer or a coach at the bottom level, at a club or a school, you want to see that if you find a talented player, or a coach or a referee, that you can go through all the channels and be at the Olympic Games or world championships."

If Basketball Scotland's membership votes to accept the proposal, the country would lose its separate membership of FIBA from 2016. It is understood, though, that a compromise would mean that the national teams could continue to compete separately at the 2018 Commonwealth Games as well as in other informal tournaments.