Israel have suffered another blow ahead of their EuroBasket 2009 qualifying campaign with veteran guard Tal Burstein unavailable as he continues his recovery from an appendectomy.

The Maccabi Tel Aviv star hardly played last season while recovering from a foot injury but had hoped to represent his country this summer.

It had been hoped that Burstein would join the Israelis after their preparation stages in Italy where they played friendlies and won over France, split two games with the Italians and finished with a victory over next year's EuroBasket hosts Poland.

Upon their return to Israel, though, the national team technical staff considered Burstein's situation and believed it unlikely that he would be able to play in the Division A games against Great Britain, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Czech Republic.

Therefore, they decided not to invite him to the final stages of the preparations.

Israel will also be without Dror Hagag, who asked to be excused from national team duty this summer for personal reasons.