The basketball players started preparations for the matches with Russia and Austria

The women's basketball team of Montenegro started preparations for the Eurobasket qualifiers today.

Jelena Škerović's team welcomes Russia in Podgorica on Thursday (18.30:XNUMX p.m.), while on Sunday they visit Austria. Denmark is also in the group.

In relation to this year's Eurobasket, there is no Jelena Dubljević and Snežana Aleksić in the team.

"We lack two experienced basketball players in relation to Eurobasket, but now each of us should have more responsibility. The focus is now on the first match with Russia, we want to qualify for Eurobasket and we will work on that. We would like to win both match, but now the focus is on the duel with Russia. They are a better team than Austria. I honestly believe that we can win against them, but it will be difficult," said Bojana Kovačević.

Due to club commitments, Kristina Raković will join the national team tomorrow.

"We have started preparations, honestly never a younger team of the national team. We will miss the experience we had in previous years, but I hope that the younger ones will bring energy for new good results. Two demanding matches await us, against Russia it will be particularly difficult, but I believe that we can match them as well. I believe that the energy of the younger ones will mean a lot in that match and we will not give up until the last minute," points out Violeta Lazarevic.

The problem in this window is that there is little time to work. Practically, only two full training sessions will be done by our team before the match with the Russian women.

"We will lack training, to get along even better. There are a lot of players abroad, they play in clubs with different systems and that could be a problem. Which does not mean that it will be seen on the field when the games start, we know each other well so that we will make up for it," Lazarevic believes.

The team believes in another successful qualification cycle.

"I believe in qualifying for the Eurobasket, we want to qualify, to continue the series of appearances at the Eurobasket, we believe we can," Kovačević concluded.