The interesting basketball summer continues - starting tomorrow, the men's cadet basketball team of Montenegro will participate in the European Championship in Skopje.
The rivals are Greece, Spain and the host North Macedonia, which is also the first opponent in the tournament (tomorrow at 18.45:XNUMX).
Coach Rajko Krivokapić is satisfied with what was done - there were no injuries, but there were problems due to the virus.
"The cadets will play in the European Championship after a two-year break. We are satisfied with what was done in the previous 36 days of preparation. Some plan we followed from the beginning of the preparations was mostly followed without major improvisations or changes, which is important. Through thorough and planned work, we avoided injuries, however "We didn't manage to avoid a stomach virus, especially in the last ten days, and one covid infection. It disturbed us and threw us out of rhythm a bit, but we will try not to feel it on the field," the selector points out.
During the preparatory period, Montenegro played several friendly matches, and they are especially pleased with the victories over Finland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In those meetings, our selection showed an excellent game.
"For sure, the friendly matches helped us to analyze the current form and spot some shortcomings in time, and try to reduce them to the lowest possible level before the start of the championship. We are certainly happy that we responded to the atypical games of our opponents and adapted in the right way and celebrated convincingly , especially in the first matches. We also had a good reaction to the atmosphere that awaited us on the road. Something like that awaits us in Macedonia, especially in the match with the host," Krivokapić believes.
Montenegro will be represented at the championship by Aleksa Ašanin, Krsto Andrijašević, Nikola Jevrić, Aljoša Drašković, Andrija Jošović, Maruan Čičić, Bodin Radulović, Vladimir Komnenović, Sefćet Bećiragić, Luka Đurović, David Mirković and Marko Radunović.
"The atmosphere is extraordinary during the entire preparations, both among the players and in the coaching staff. The boys are ready and motivated to take part in the official European Championship for the first time. We believe in ourselves, but I would not put any pressure on them because these are young boys who would above all, they should enjoy basketball," says the selector.
Montenegrin basketball players have a very difficult task ahead of them in Skopje.
"The group is extremely strong with two basketball superpowers and the host. We will certainly get to know the opponents better at the championship itself, but we are also gathering all the necessary information before the start so that they can enter the duels as ready as possible. Greece and Spain played friendly matches against each other. These are teams that are naturally going for a medal. Macedonia, as the host with the support of the audience, expects and secretly hopes for a good result."
In our selection, at the start, they only think about survival.
"As with all younger Montenegrin national teams, the first goal is survival in the A division, which is a success for a small country and a small base. Definitely, anything over that result is a huge result," concludes Krivokapić.
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