Killester have been named as men's ESB League champions for 2001 after a successful appeal to the Irish Basketball Association. The National Executive Appeals Committee heard the case of the Dublin club on Wednesday night and announced yesterday that the record will now show Killester as league champions.

Their appeal was against the March 7th decision of the National Competitions Committee (NCC) that brought about the abandonment of the men's league because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the non-awarding of the league title to Killester.

The decision was taken on three grounds: If teams in contention were all awarded wins, brought forward to 23 games (with Killester being awarded losses), then Killester would still be clear winners; 90 per cent of the men's league had been completed at the time of the abandonment; a precedent confirmed by FIBA is in existence.