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This time, it was enough for the South American representatives who did not allow the hosts of the tournament that started in Kaunas on Tuesday to relax too early and not be crushed by them.
On the contrary, the Lithuanians had to tire themselves until they won 76:65.
It was also difficult for Venezuelans to wait for something else because the coronavirus ruined their preparation plans before the tournament. Already at the time of their arrival in Europe, three cases of COVID-19 were identified in the team, which left almost a team made up of players competing in national championships without a control match.
This was emphasized by both F. Duro and forward Michael Carrera, who scored 9 points and 6 rebounds.
“We met with one of the best teams in the world – great coaches, great players. We love to play against opponents that we have only seen before on television.
But we’ve been playing the game ourselves for a long time, so I think we did quite well. We are proud of ourselves, the mood is very good even though we did not win. I hope that we too will continue, ”said Carrera.
“We knew we were dealing with a basketball superpower. We hadn’t competed in a long time before, and that made our tasks even more difficult. However, we did a great job on defense and were competitive for the full 40 minutes, ”said F. Duro, who asked the students to just pick up the pace of the game going forward.
And when asked what defense decisions helped prevent the Lithuanians from fleeing, the 60-year-old Argentine specialist smiled with a medical mask, which is not removed even at press conferences, despite the fact that the latter are organized in remotely, and such protection measures are considered optional.
“We are not going to comment on tactical issues. I hope we will play with Lithuania in the final,” laughed the Venezuelan coach.
The Lithuanian team will play the second match of the tournament with South Korea on Thursday starting at 7.30 pm. The latter will test his strength with the Venezuelans on Wednesday.
We remind you that six teams in Kaunas will compete for the only Olympic ticket to the Tokyo Games until Sunday.
Lithuania, Venezuela and South Korea play in group A, Slovenia, Poland and Angola play in group B. On Tuesday, the Poles 83:64 demonstrated an advantage over the African representatives.
The top two teams from both groups will advance to the semi-finals.
In total, four similar qualifying tournaments started at the same time.
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