Belarus win bronze at European Women’s Basketball Championships

• 8.10.2007, 18:11

Belarus won the bronze at the European Women’s Basketball Championships with a 72-63 win over Latvia on October 7, the biggest-ever feat achieved by the country’s national team in game sports.

Belarus beat Croatia, Serbia, Italy and defending champions Czech Republic en-route to the semifinals, where the team were defeated by favorites Spain.

The Belarusian squad clinched a berth at next year’s Olympic qualifying tournament thanks to their successful performance at the championships.

Anatol Buyalski, head coach of the team, expressed hope that the team’s third-place finish at the top tournament would prompt Belarus’ authorities to devote more attention to the development of the sport in the country. “We have the [necessary] potential, one needs only to use it properly,” the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

The coach promised that the team would be a serious contender in the race for 2008 Beijing Olympics slots. “We will try to improve certain aspects of our game ahead of [the tournament] and I guess we will look even more convincing at the pre-Olympic tournament,” he said.