Illustrative photo – Match of the group to the second stage of qualification for the 2023 WC basketball players: Czech Republic – France, February 23, 2023, Pardubice. Victor Wembanyama from France and Tomáš Kyzlink from the Czech Republic.
Vienna – Without captain Vojtěch Hruban and pivot Martin Kříž, the Czech basketball players will perform in Sunday's final match of the World Championship qualification in Montenegro. According to the original agreement, Hruban completed only Thursday's home duel with France (59:72). Kříže, who also played in Pardubice, was sidelined by illness. Coach Ronen Ginzburg's trip to Montenegro was complicated by a broken down bus, and the team traveled to Vienna by car. The Czechs can no longer advance to the WC.
Advertisement'; }
Photo gallery: Qualification of basketball players for the WC 2023
< /p>
< /p>
“From the beginning, the agreement with Vojta Hruban was that he would join only for the home game. That was how it was resolved and communicated with him from the beginning, so everyone counted on the fact that if something went wrong, he would not travel to Montenegro,” he said ČTK Marketing Director of the Czech Basketball Federation Martin Peterka.
“After yesterday's match, Martin Kříž had an incipient virus. So, given that there were thirteen players left in the nomination, we decided that he would stay at home and finish his treatment se,” added Peterka.
Ondřej Sehnal and Martin Peterka also dropped out of the original nomination, and only a trio of players remained from the squad from September's EuroBasket in Prague and Berlin – Patrik Auda, Ondřej Balvín and Tomáš Kyzlink. Ginzburg will have at his disposal exactly twelve players who will fit on the match roster. Luboš Kovář and Ondřej Švec did not make it against France.
The twenty-two-member team with twelve players was supposed to leave Pardubice's Enteria arena at 7:00 a.m., but due to a bus breakdown, they set off by car less than an hour later. “Unfortunately, the bus had a door malfunction just before departure and we had to choose an alternative option in order to catch the departure from Vienna,” said team manager Jan Havlas.
