After the draw in Switzerland, our group was evaluated by the President of the Georgian National Basketball Federation Paata Guraspauli:
– Based on the results and potential of the Georgian national team in recent years, we can boldly say that our national team is able to get to the World Cup for the first time in history.
As for the draw results, I think we have a normal group. The Spanish team will be our opponent at EuroBasket 2022 as well. The process of generational change is underway in this team and we can think of success…
– We have old acquaintances and friendship with Ukrainians. We also remember the bitter defeat at the 2017 European Championship, due to which Georgia could not leave the group. We think about winning with Ukraine both at home and away. Regarding North Macedonia, it is not a team our boys can not win.
– Our main task is not just to leave the group. If we recall the previous world qualifiers, we went to the next stage, but with such a bad result that we already had no chance there. Therefore, it will be very important to achieve maximum results in the first three windows and to bring the points gained with the teams that passed with us in the second stage as well.
Most likely, the teams leaving our group, will meet the top three of the group from Italy, Russia, Iceland and the Netherlands. We have to score as many points as possible before the matches with them in order to have a good chance to reach the final stage of the World Cup.
So we are not dissatisfied with the draw results. Our main challenge is not only the European Championship, but also the World Cup qualifiers. I hope, for the first time in the history of our basketball, the Georgian team will win a ticket to the World Cup.
