By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After beating the hosts of the tournament in Canada, the Czech Republic didn’t bend against Greece. To be exact the Czechs led from wire to wire on their way to an easy 97-72 win and became the last team to qualify in the Tokyo Olympics.
It’s one more historic milestone for the Czechs after competing in the 2019 FIBA World Cup since they are playing in the Olympics for the first time after the division of Czechoslovakia.
“It’s an amazing feeling”, said the Israeli coach of the Czech Republic Ronen Ginzurg. “Right now, I can express it, in a few days I will be able to fully comprehend it. It’s a dream come true”.
Patrick Auda with 20 points and Jaromir Bohacik with 15 led the charge for the winners, while Jan Vesely (16 p., 8 r., 5 as.) and Tomas Satoransky (12 p.) also delivered as always. Ondrej Balvin added 14 points.
“As the coach said, it’s difficult the express the feelings, because for me going to the Olympics was my biggest dream, bigger than going to the NBA”, added Chicago Bulls point guard Tomas Satoransky.
Greece, just hours after a great performance against Turkey, trailed by 27 points at the end of the third period (81-54) and couldn’t react in any part of the game. To be exact, they did trim the lead to five (52-47) after the start of the second half, but the Czechs completed the quarter with an impressive 29-7 run.
Τhe torture for Greece continued for 10 more minutes and the lead climbed even to 32 points (89-57). George Papagiannis with 14 points was the top scorer of the losing side.