Illustrative photo – Women's basketball league playoff final – 3rd match USK Prague – Žabiny Brno, April 19, 2022 in Prague. Viktor Pruša, coach of the Žabiny Brno team
Chomutov – Žabin Brno basketball players will try to defend their triumph in the Czech Cup this weekend. In the absence of USK Prague, they are the main favourites. In Saturday's semi-final, they will face Ostrava from 14:00, three hours later the home side Chomutov will face Slovanka. On Sunday, the third place match (1:00 p.m.) and the final (4:00 p.m.) are scheduled.
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“The motivation of all teams is quite clear. Chomutov is experiencing its best season in history and is organizing the tournament with the clear intention of winning the premier medal for the club at home. However, we will certainly not renounce the role of favorites and we are going to fulfill one of our pre-season goals , which is the defense of last year's gold,” said coach Viktor Pruša on the Brno club's website.
Žabiny will attack for the 19th triumph in the competition. They are second in the league behind the dominant USK Prague and have lost only three matches this season in the ŽBL (two against USK). The women from Prague did not register for the cup and are concentrating on fighting in the Europa League.
The Brno team, which participated in the Eurocup this season, reached the Final Four thanks to the quarter-final victory over Hradec Králové 81:62. He will face Ostrava for the second time in a short time. At the end of last week, he succeeded in the league on the board of the opponent 80:50. Žabiny have not played against Ostrava for nine games in a row and for more than two years.
“Thanks to the results of previous seasons, we won the position of leader in almost every game except USK. And we have to play so that our opponents perceive us as well. We have gained valuable experience this year from difficult Eurocup matches, which we hope we can use,” said Brno point guard Petra Záplatová.
Ostrava is in seventh place in the league with a record of seven wins and ten defeats. Coach Iveta Rašková's team advanced to the Final Four for the first time, beating last year's cup finalist KP Brno 84:83 in the quarterfinals. In addition to the fourth place in the league, the North Bohemians advanced to the semi-finals of the EWBL Cup. The Lionesses want to use their home environment to progress to the finals of the competition for the first time in history.
The Slovaks are in eighth place in the domestic league, but they unexpectedly knocked out Slavia Prague in the quarterfinals after an 84:78 win. She was successful against Chomutova in the cup last year, when she won 89:78 in the quarter-finals.
