In fact, Geogria has one of the greatest traditions in basketball in Europe. The thing called "Soviet basketball" basically was built on the foundations of Latvians, Lithuanians and Georgians (esp. in 50s-60s).
The Georgian club Dynamo Tbilisi was even the strongest European club and numerous champion of USSR, but that was a long time ago...
I'd really love the Georgians tradition to come alive again - it is not their place to be playing countries like Austria...
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Basketball Alive and ‘Dribbling’ in Georgia
12 September 2004
Over 50,000 basketball fans across Europe followed their countries this weekend in the second day of qualifying for the 2005 European Championship for Men.
6,000 turned up in Istanbul to watch Turkey take on Estonia in Group E of qualifying, but the record attendance went to Georgia, where 10,000 fans watched their team battle Finland in Tbilisi. It is the first time in 3 years that the Georgian has competed in official European competition.
Georgia emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and in 13 years, this country of just under 5 million people has had a significant impact on the basketball world.
Despite having such a small population, Georgia can boast 3 NBA players and several others who have made their marks in Europe’s elite leagues. Zaza Pachulia, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Vladimir Stepania are all plying their trade in the NBA and will soon be joined by the 18-year old Viktor Sanikidze, who was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in this year’s draft.
Pachulia and Tskitishvili were both on national team duty against Finland, and Pachulia played a key role, contributing 30 points and 12 rebounds in Georgia’s 85-78 win.
FIBA Europe Executive Director Nar Zanolin was in Tbilisi on an official visit and impressed with what he saw.
“The game was really a great event,” said Zanolin
“The official attendance was 10,000 but there was more like 12,000, the fans were really packed in. It is great to see basketball doing so well here and the level of the game tonight was really high.”
As well as Pachulia, Georgia got an encouraging display from the 18-year old Manuchar Markoishvili, who made his debut for the senior national team. Markoishvili, who starred along with Sanikidze on this summer’s U18 team, scored 12 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in his first ever official game with Georgia.
The Georgian National Federation have also been enterprising in their search for new talent. Thanks to a strong friendship with Pachulia, Georgia has recruited New Orleans Hornets point guard Shammond Williams to play for their national team. Williams has pledged to play for the team until the 2007 European Championship.
Georgian law states that citizens may not hold dual nationality unless a special presidential dispensation is granted. Williams is one of the 3 citizens of Georgia (President Mikheil Zaakashvili is another – he has Georgian and US passports) to receive this honour.
His presence has been a valuable one and in 40 minutes of court-time against Finland, the point guard scored 19 points and dished 10 assists to his new team-mates.
Georgia will play FYROM in their next national team game on 15th September and are one of the favourites to earn promotion to Division A, which would give them the chance to qualify for the 2007 European Championship.
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The country probably doesn't put money or funding in for the team to have prpoer facilities and equipment.
Thats just my assumption.Leave a comment:
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Georgian basketball
My question is why is Georgia still in the 2nd division of European basketball?
I mean, they have good enough players like Boisa, Markoishvili, Natsvlishvili, Pachulia or Tskitishvili to make the leap, why haven't they done it yet
Last edited by rikhardur; 11-01-2008, 02:28 AM.
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