By Aris Barkas / info@eurohoops.net
Beijing — Czech Republic head coach Ronen Ginzburg set the bar high regarding his team’s future ventures, saying that with center Jan Vesely on board, this squad can compete for a medal in the 2021 EuroBasket.
“We played without EuroLeague MVP Jan Vesely in the whole tournament. I don’t have a problem to set expectations: I think that with him, we can go for a medal in EuroBasket for sure,” Ginzburg said following the loss to Serbia in the game for the fifth place in the World Cup. Vesely, one of the team’s two major stars along with Tomas Satoransky, was out of the World Cup to rehabilitate from a knee injury.
The Czech Republic finished the World Cup at the sixth spot in the country’s first-ever participation in the tournament. It was a feat, according to Ginzburg.
“We put behind big teams like USA, Turkey, Greece. We played great basketball offensively and defensively. All the respect for our players. They all really fought like lions. Including this guy (pointing at wing Pavel Pumprla). I’m happy with what we did. We made basketball going forward in the Czech Republic. I hope we continue like this.”
“We’re going to need weeks to really understand what happened here. We’re full of it right now,” said Pumprla. “It was an amazing tournament. I hope the future generations will pick it up from here and make even bigger stuff in the future.”
Photo: FIBA Basketball