Georgian team held an open practice in palace of sport. The team of Igor Kokoshkov returned in Georgia.

National team took part in the international tournmanet, which was held in Trento, Italy. Georgian team lost to Poland and won over Israel 79:77. The team of Kokoshkov played against Bosnia twice and after the failure 63:68 they won 81:78.

Georgian team took part in the international tournament, which was held in Antib, France on 16-17 August. Serbia lost unexpectedly 75:71, against France they won 71:86.

Kokoshkov trained basketball players as much as it was possible. 15 members of the team worked on bilateral attacks. Manuchar Markoishvili got trauma on his foot while training. Team members made the following comments after the training. At first we asked about the trauma of Markoishvili:

-Did you get the serious trauma on training?

-I will find out this soon

Manuchar Markoishvili: “We achieved pleasing success against Serbia. We had a bad start, but then we were able to reduce the score and in the final half we were dominating and achieved success. Serbian team was really shocked. Most important is that all basketball players did their best and it is not necessary to play only with 6 or 7 players”.

-How played the team and what can you say about naturalized basketball players?

-The team still needs to prepare. As for naturalized players, I cannot say much about it, Hickman will stay in the team, but he has not played much and he has not used to yet.

Giorgi Shermadini: “Absence of Pachulia represented on the team, I will do my best. The team held a good meeting, we won and lost matches. We already know the weak sides of the team and we will correct it”.

Kote Tugushi (assistant of the head coach): “We held the productive meeting, we played against different teams. We have left a few time till the European Championship and we are trying to be in the optimal form”.

Ricky Hickman: “I am glad, that i joined the team and train with them. I am preparing for the championship, which will held in September”.

Viktor Sanikidze: “The team held a good meeting. But absence of Zaza Pachulia and Tornike Shengelia is hardly compensating. I will do my best in the European Championship, in order to achieve success for the team”.

Georgian team will train in Tbilisi till 23 August. After this, they will go to Israel, to held the test matches there. The Georgians will held preparatory meetings with Lithuanian team on 1 September and then they will go to Slovenia with a charter flight.

Giorgi Balakhadze