The road of Georgian Basketball – Sanadze, Darsadze, Guraspauli
Georgian Basketball Federation continues the project “The Road of Georgian Basketball to EuroBasket2021” and traditionally, every Thursday, we tell you about the basketball players and coaches who played in the official matches of the Georgian national team and contributed significantly to the development of this sport.
From Soviet Dinamo to National Team
In the previous three sections we introduced you eight basketball players and coaching staff participating in the Eurobasket 1997 qualifier… Or rather reminded, because this was the stuff any fan of the Georgian team knows.
This time, we present three more players, who came to the national team with great experience – before Georgia gained independence, Gela Darsadze, Paata Guraspauli and Gia Sanadze defended the name of Dinamo Tbilisi at the Soviet Championship. They played in the USSR teams of different ages, and Darsadze even was a member of the first team.
Sanadze played 10 seasons without quadriceps (!) and even so that neither he nor doctors knew about it… despite this, he was the player that his opponents were afraid of. Sanadze played 20 matches in the national team, scored 36 free-throws and 51 two-pointers. He shot even more three-pointers than both these numbers calculated together – 125, out of which, 48 got to the point.
Gia Sanadze was one of the main factors behind the victory against Bosnia 77:66. At the critical moment, we reduced the difference thanks to his long-range shots and then tied the game as well.
He recalls one interesting story about the team:
– National team players were accommodated in small wooden cottages while participating in an international tournament in Braunschweig, Germany. In the evening, boys prepared for watching the Bundesleague football match on TV. Suddenly, the television signal stopped in the cottages one after the other. The frustrated guys rushed out of the cottages and saw their hornet teammate, who pulled all of the cottage’s satellite antennas down, but couldn’t hide after coming down from the roof… it was Irakli Bakradze.
Gia Sanadze’s three sons are involved in basketball. Duda, a senior, is a long-time member of the national team. According to his father, Duda is a remarkably hard-working player and has all the prerequisites to play great basketball and conquer high mountain peaks. Middle son Sandro defends TSU’s honor and is a candidate for the national team as well.
Currently, Gia Sanadze is a director of the Basketball School Hyundai and a member of the Georgia Veteran Basketball Team.
Paata Guraspauli
As we mentioned above, we are writing about players who played at different times in the Soviet Union. Paata Guraspauli was a member of the youth team.
When the Georgian national team was founded, one of the main candidates for the position of the guard was Paata Guraspauli. Besik Liparteliani and Nodar Korkia even took him on the Eurobasket 1997 qualifiers in Birmingham.
– We played five matches in England. I played in four of them – the coaches allowed me to rest with the team of England as we should have played against Denmark the next day. Our main rival was exactly Denmark for the semifinals. The idea was justified – we defeated Denmark and returned to Georgia successfully, – recalls Paata Guraspauli, who scored 2/4 three-pointers in 23 minutes against Denmark and ended with 8 points.
He played just one more match in the national team after Birmingham: on November 15, 1995 in Belarus.
– After returning from the first qualifying round I suffered an injury and needed surgery on my foot. I went through rehabilitation, resumed playing, the coaches took me to Belarus, but eventually the operated foot didn’t allow me to continue my career.
Paata Guraspauli is a member of Georgia’s Veteran Basketball Team. Tbilisi Basketball Development Union was established under his leadership. He is currently president of the Georgian Basketball Federation.
Gela darsadze
The 100th anniversary of the legendary coach Suliko Tortladze was celebrated very interestingly in Kutaisi. It was through his training that Georgian basketball was constantly supplied with talents from Kutaisi that exceeded the limits of Georgia and the Soviet Union.
In the 1980s, another player from Kutaisi – Gela Darsadze appeared in the Soviet team…
– Gela was a distinct talent, – said Gia Sanadze, – he had same playing manners as Zurab Sakandelidze. A man should just dream of the partner like him on the court. I can’t remember a single time that he didn’t assist timely. We lived in one room for several years, so I know a lot about him. Such unique and upright personalities are rarely born.
Gela Darsadze ended his career in 1997 before which he played one match for the national team. He played 21 minutes against Bosnia and scored ½ three-pointers.
Let’s listen to Paata Guraspauli:
– Gela Darsadze was an extra-class player, he was my best partner during my career. We understood each other without words.
Darsadze-Guraspauli duo was a main back of Dinamo Tbilisi in the 80s of the last century.
It is noteworthy that there is a prize on the name of Gela Darsadze at the Georgian National Championship (Super League), which is traditionally given to the distinct young player at the end of the season.
Announcement: Next week we will tell you about Vladimer Stepania, Mamuka Turashvili, Kakha Baramidze and Irakli Vashakidze.