Britain's hopes of producing a competitive basketball team for the 2012 Olympics have been boosted by world governing body FIBA lifting its ban on English players competing.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) had barred English players from European qualifying matches because of what it called "unacceptable" government interference in the affairs of England Basketball.

Sport England, the government agency responsible for financing sport, had frozen funding to the national governing body after a review labelled England Basketball "untenable".

The ban would have prevented English players from attempting to qualify for EuroBasket Division A, a scenario England Basketball chief executive Keith Mair said would have had a devastating effect on Britain's hopes of qualifying for 2012.

UK Sport, the agency responsible for elite sport, said that FIBA had agreed to lift the ban as an "act of good faith" after significant progress had been made to address the issues, particularly the setting up of British Performance Basketball (BPB).

"By setting up BPB as a temporary home for the British Team, we at UK Sport are looking to secure a great future for British basketball on the world stage and, hopefully, a presence at the London Olympics in five years' time," John Steele, chief executive of UK Sport, said.

"It is great that the players can now concentrate on the task in hand - to qualify for EuroBasket Division A - without any distractions."

To qualify for Division A, Britain's men must emerge from a group containing Slovakia, the Netherlands, Albania and Belarus in a series stretching from Aug. 21 to Sept. 5.

The women must overcome Estonia, Luxembourg, Bosnia and Portugal in group matches in September.

They would then have to win two promotion play-off matches in September to reach Division A, a requirement for Olympic qualification.