Georgian U-20 team is in the European Youth League final. The team trained by Nikoloz Cherqezishvili and Dimitri Jakobov defeated Belarusian Tsmoke-Minsk 83:60 in Tbilisi Olympic Palace and will play against the winner of the second semi-final – Latvian Valmiera to win this representative European tournament.
Georgian Basketball Federation has been successfully cooperating with the European Youth League for 5 years and the result of this fruitful cooperation is that Tbilisi is hosting the finals today. The honorary President of the European Youth League – Guntiss Senshops attended the opening ceremony today, at the Olympic Palace before the match between Georgia and Tsmoke-Minsk. He was awarded by the president of the Georgian Basketball National Federation – Paata Guraspauli with a memorable gift as a sign of successful cooperation. Both of them wished finalists success and expressed hope that the four final matches would be interesting.
As for today’s match between Georgians and Belarusians, the hosts won easily. Our team had great advantages in all aspects and if they had any troubles periodically, it was only due to their own mistakes. The Georgians won the first period 23:7, the score was 24:15 in the second quarter and they had 24-points lead for a big break. Georgians didn’t increase the difference in the second half, but they remained the lead and finally, won with 23-points difference.
European League matches are very useful for our national team. Apart from the title, they are preparing for the B Division of the European Championship in summer. Giorgi Korsantia led the Georgian national team with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Luka Bulashvili scored 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Alexandre Pevadze had 14 points and 8 rebounds.
The Georgian national team will meet Latvian Valmiera in the finals, they defeated Polish Vladyslavovo 89:74 in the second semi-final match.
The final match between the Georgian national team and Valmiera will be held on April 29, at the Olympic Palace, at 4pm. The match for the third place will be held at 2pm between Tsmoke-Minsk and Vladyslavovo.
