In 2022, Georgian basketball will have a 100 years anniversary

2022 is a historic date – the European Championship will be held in Georgia. Our country got the right to host EuroBasket on July 15, 2019, and the competition was to be held in 2021, but the Coronavirus pandemic postponed Europe’s first basketball forum for a year.

…and we got a symbolic coincidence – Georgia celebrates the 100th anniversary of basketball in 2022. This beautiful sport was introduced to our country in 1922. Alexandre Chelidze installed the first basketball shield in Tbilisi and this is where the Georgian basketball calendar begins.

Today, on June 4, 2021, 30 years have passed since the establishment of the Georgian National Basketball Federation. After gaining state independence, on June 4, 1991, the Georgian National Basketball Federation was established and we will tell you a separate story about this fact later. Before that, let’s take a brief look at the history of basketball in Georgia and its development.

“At the Vsevobuchi Spartakiada in Moscow, Georgian athletes Alexandre Chelidze and Alexandre Nebieridze saw for the first time basketball shields attached to a pole and an unusual game at the Sokolnik Stadium,” says Garun Akopov’s book “Georgian Basketball”.

The already experienced athletes were well acquainted with the Georgian character, their love for the ball and when they returned to the homeland, they were sure that the Georgians would immediately embrace the new sport.

Alexandre Chelidze, who headed the Georgian Mushpaki Physical Training Center in 1922, introduced basketball to the school.

The first basketball court was arranged in the yard of Mushpaki, on the current Ushangi Chkheidze Street. There you will still find the roots of a tree on which one of the shields of the square was attached with a ring. In one year, the first official match between the two teams of Mushpaki was held on this court.

Everyone who was attracted to the sport picked up a basketball. Gymnasts were particularly successful, who, under the leadership of Giorgi Egnatashvili, easily took over the new game, during which it was possible to compete with each other in speed, jump or target shooting.

There was such a case: the boys decided to arrange a basketball court next to Giorgi Egnatashvili’s house. He noticed that the boys didn’t have enough space and did not hesitate to devote part of his own garden.

In 1924, the Tbilisi Railway team left for Baku to hold the first international match…

In 1925 the first championship of Tbilisi was held…

In 1934, the national team of our country (playing under the name of “Tbilisi”) played for the first time at the Union Championship, which was held in Kiev. Fourth place among seven teams.

In 1935, Georgians won the first medal in this competition – bronze.

From 1934 to 1937, the national teams of the Republics played in the USSR Championship. Teams were changed by clubs in 1937 and Tbilisi “Dinamo” took part in the USSR Championship for the first time.

…This is the initial timeline of the development of basketball in Georgia.

Basketball of that time was significantly different from today: the ball was shot to the basket with two hands from below, the pass was given with one hand. There were two defenders, two strikers and one center on the court. Everyone had their place and tried to stay there.

The first specialized basketball schools appeared in the 1930s, the first of which was the Stroitel basketball school founded by Vakhtang Tsitsishvili. It was he who refused to jog between the baskets and focused on refining various technical details during training.

Before basketball gained momentum in the Soviet Union, the European Championships were held in the Baltics:

In 1935, the first EuroBasket was held in Switzerland. Latvia became the champion.

In 1937, Latvia hosted the European Championship. Lithuania won.

1939: Host Lithuania. Gold medal – Lithuania, silver – Latvia.

In 1941, the EuroBasket was to be held again in Lithuania, but World War II ruined the European Championship just like the 1940 Tokyo Olympics.

By the way, it was in 1940 that fundamental changes were made to the rules of basketball:

The court got divided into two pieces. The basketball player could not stop the ball for more than 10 seconds on his own half.

If before that a player could only be changed when he was injured, under the new rules the coach could make the change at any time.

Since 1940, the free-throw has been awarded not to any player but to the victim. A rule was introduced according to which the player would leave the court as soon as he received four personal fouls. And most importantly: before that, after each point, the game was updated from the center of the court – according to the new rules, the ball must’ve been taken out of the cover.

Shortly, the International Basketball Organization made every effort to maximize the pace of the game, which was superimposed on the Georgians and their character. As soon as World War II ended, our teams became at the forefront of the Soviet Union. The team was constantly led by Otar Qorqia, then Guram Minashvili, Zurab Sakandelidze…