Project of Georgian Basketball Federation – The Road to Eurobasket 2021 continues. Let’s move from the twentieth to the twenty-first century with the national team.
A long road which couldn’t lead us to Europe
Zurab Tomaradze
Following the qualification round of the Eurobasket in Switzerland in 1999, the head coach of the Georgian national team was replaced. Zurab Tomaradze was appointed to replace Levan Moseshvili, Nugzar Kandelaki was appointed as an assistant.
Under their leadership, the team went through the qualifying stage of Eurobasket 2003 in Luxembourg, they started qualifiers effectively – defeating Bulgaria and Belarus in Tbilisi, Azerbaijan in both matches and…
Leaving the group for our team depended on the outcome of two matches: We played one after another in Bulgaria and Belarus. Losing with them with a small difference would be enough to overcome the barrier. We lost 66:85 in Bulgaria. All members of today’s squad still remembers vividly the journey from the city of Yambol to the Belarusian city of Gomel. Listen to head coach – Zurab Tomaradze:
We were in a difficult situation before the match. We had to go from Sofia to Moscow first, then to Gomel. The Bulgarian agency told us that we would be able to travel to Belarus without a visa through Romania. We rushed to Bulgaria’s seaside border, but were firmly denied – it seems that the Georgians had managed a visa regime with Romania just the day before. We didn’t know what to do. It even happened that our doctor, Valeri Meladze, called to Ukraine and said – It’s Georgian General, we need a ship urgently. The Ukrainians kindly paid attention and sent a ship specifically for us. We arrived at the small port of Ukraine at 4:00 am with a “comet” from where we arrived to Odessa by taxi. We used the minibuses to Kiev and the bus from the Ukrainian capital to Gomel. In short, we tested all types of transport except the horse. It is easy to imagine what the athletes would be like… Despite great efforts, we didn’t have enough power and lost to Belarus.
Giorgi Gagnidze
You know very well the situation in Georgia in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Each coach of the national team tried to put together a team, a battle worthy team, but even a full-fledged meeting was needed. Since this was not possible, the coaches tried the players directly in games.
By 1998 Giorgi Gagnidze was a promising youngster and, of course, got in the national team, though he held only two meetings. Challenging matches – with Turkey and Italy. He played 3 minutes in the first, 13 in the second.
Valeri Kiladze
Valeri Kiladze played for the national team in transitional period. He got in the formation of Zurab Tomaradze and in Drajen Braikovic. He made his debut in 2000 – played against Luxembourg and had his last match against Macedonia in 2004.
Valeri is no longer involved in basketball, though you will often find him at the Olympic Palace podiums – encouraging his 17-year-old son, Irakli, who defends the dignity of Dinamo and is a member of the U-18 national team.
– Irakli is making his professional debut in basketball, playing in Dinamo Tbilisi. He used to play as a center earlier, now considering his current height, he’s a classic number-3. He works hard and intends to play great basketball.
Irakli Maisuradze
Irakli Maisuradze, former guard of the Georgian national team, coaches Zaza’s U-18 team. He has a successful coaching career and has been a coach of the national youth team.
Although Irakli had a long and successful career, he has only played five games for the national team. Even he cannot explaine the reason for that:
– Even during the 90s and after, I didn’t miss the national team meeting, they always called me to train with the team, but I rarely played in matches, even when I was playing well in Germany or Russian Super Leagues. I’m a coach now and I think It was probably me, who lessened something… But when it comes to the Georgian national team, putting on a jersey at least once is a dream come true for any basketball player.
Gigi Natsvlishvili
As well as Irakli Maisuradze, Vakhtang Natsvlishvili’s younger brother Gigi, was often at the meetings of the Georgian national team, but he also played five matches as Irakli.
He made his debut in the Czech Republic in 1998 and played his fifth match in 1999 against Portugal in Switzerland, playing 17 minutes.
Gigi played for Dinamo Tbilisi in the early 2000s, he overcame a group phase of FIBA-Europe Cup and played in playoffs, where Dinamo was defeated by Ukrainian Azovmash.
After gaining independence, tt was a rare occasion when the Georgian team overcame the group stage and went to the playoffs.
Announcements: In the following section we present: Nika Tsqitishvili, Aleko Davituliani, Davit Ugrekhelidze, Davit Muskudiani and Irakli Keidia.
