Georgian basketball team held the open trainings in palace of sport before leaving in Israel. Igor Kokoshkov trained the players as much as it was possible. The team members worked on bilateral attack tactics.

Igor Kokoshkov held the press conference after the training.

Igor Kokoshkov “It is very difficult when you meet European Championship with shortage. Two important players are not in our lines, but we must turn weakness into power, as experienced coach say. It was a trump for us to play in three second round, but I will say that shortage should be filled by other players. We have good preparatory period and the team will face to European Championship perfectly ready”.

_On which position would you use Hickman?

He can play as on first position as on second. We saw records of his play before joining him. He is experienced basketball player and we believe in him”.

_What can you say about the trauma of Markoishvili?

_ Markoishvili passes the stage of treatment, he is fighter. He is a model player for all team members. He has not serious trauma and he can play in European Championship.

Georgian team will held test matches in Israel on 26 and 28 August. The matches against Israel will underway in Eilat and Haifa. The team of Igor Kokoshkov will go to Lithuania on 29 August, where they will held the final test matches of preparatory stage on 1 September against local team. The Georgian team will flew with a charter flight to Slovenia from Lithuania to the European Championship.

Georgian national team will compete in D group, where they will face to Spain, Slovenia, Poland, Croat and China.

Giorgi Balakhadze

Photoes by Lasha Kuprashvili