Illustrative photo – Czech Republic – Ireland, match of Group I qualification for the European Championship 2023 women's basketball, February 9, 2023, Prague. From the left, Bridget Herlihy from Ireland, Czech representative Eliška Hamzová.
Prague – Czech women's basketball players can celebrate their 15th consecutive European Championship promotion on Sunday. In the final match of the qualification, they will play against the Netherlands, and to participate in the June championship in Israel and Slovenia, they can lose by a maximum of five points. The match in Prague at Královka will start at 18:00.
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Photo gallery: Qualification of female basketball players for the 2023 European Championship
“We certainly won't talk about those points at all. We go into it like any other game, wanting to win. I know it will be extremely difficult,” said coach Romana Ptáčková, who spent last November on the bench of the national team in Almere against the Netherlands with a 71:66 win, the competitive premiere.
The team entered the qualification a year earlier in Prague with a 60:66 defeat against Belarus, and under former coach Štefan Svitek, they also won 70:54 in Dublin over Ireland in November last year. Belarus, like Russia, was expelled last October due to its participation in the war in Ukraine, and after the decision of FIBA Europe, only the winners will advance from Group I.
The Czech team took another step with Thursday's win over Ireland 74:57. The last time he was absent from the EC was in 1993 in Perugia, Italy, where the former Czechoslovakia still qualified, but the Slovak women presented themselves there as the replacement team.
In the final fight for the Eurobasket, the Ptáčeks are missing the pivot Julie Reisingerová from Salamanca due to medical reasons. The mainstay of the national team had 19 points, seven rebounds and one assist in the win in the Netherlands. “They have really experienced players under the basket and we miss Julia Reisingerová a lot here, who was an absolutely famous and different player in Holland. This will probably be the most difficult task to replace her together,” said Ptáčková.
On the other hand, Laura Corneliusová, the point guard of Mersin, Turkey, is returning to the rivals after a November absence. ZVVZ USK Prague center Emese Hofová has been sidelined for a long time. Compared to last November, Richelle Van Der Keijlová from Milan, who played for Slavia and Žabiny Brno in the 2019/20 season, is in the nominated twelve.
“It will be a completely different match than against Ireland. Holland is a different team and very experienced. Experienced Euroleague point guard Cornelius is returning to the game, so I think this match will mainly be about experienced players who have something behind them,” said Ptáčková, who on Thursday also gave space to debutants Emma Čechová and Dominica Paurová.
“The Netherlands has a bit of an advantage that they only play one match and can only prepare for it. It is more difficult for us, but if you want to, you fight for it. The motivation is great. We want to go to Europe,” said the captain Renáta Březinová.
The Czechs or the Netherlands will take one of the five available spots at the June tournament. In addition to the hosts Israel and Slovenia, the defenders of the 2021 triumph from Strasbourg and Valencia, the Serbians, the French vice-champions, the bronze-winning Belgians, and Spain, Italy, Latvia, Montenegro, Turkey and Greece have already secured participation in the qualification.
