Ondrej Sehnal, a player for Nymburk and a member of the Czech national team, spoke to Basketball Sphere about the upcoming EuroBasket.
For the fifth time in a row, the Czech Republic will take part in the EuroBasket. Their best result came in 2015, when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals and ultimately finished in seventh place. At EuroBasket three years ago, they were knocked out in the round of 16 by Greece.
Ondrej Sehnal is one of the players on the extended roster of his national team. He began his career with USK Praha, before moving on to Braunschweig. He has spent last three seasons playing for Nymburk.
Claim NowMix of experienced and young players
At the beginning of the interview, Ondrej Sehnal reflected on the start of preparations and the atmosphere within the national team.
“I would say the atmosphere in the team is good. Right now, we have a nice mix of experienced players and young players. Everyone has already played a few games for the national team, and we know what to expect from each other. We’re getting better together day by day” – said Sehnal.
Czech Republic is midway through preparations for the upcoming EuroBasket. They recorded a loss against Spain, with a final score of 87–73. In that game, Sehnal posted eight points and five assists. The next challenges will come at a tournament in Germany, where they will also face the Serbian national team.
“We started preparations two weeks ago. We’ve already played two games — against Spain and the U23 team. This week, we’re heading to a preparation tournament in Germany. After that, we’ll play two games against Georgia.”
”We can compete with anyone”
Czech Republic is placed in Group A, where they will face Serbia, Latvia, Turkey, Estonia, and Portugal. Sehnal spoke about his team’s ambitions for the upcoming tournament.
“We’re taking it game by game. As I mentioned earlier, we have a lot of young players for whom this will be their first major competition. After two weeks of preparation, we can already see the things we’re doing well and the things we can improve. I believe that if we play with the attitude and competitive spirit we showed against Spain, we can compete with anyone” – Sehnal emphasized.
roup A is one of the toughest. According to the bookmakers, Serbia is the top favorite for the gold medal, but they are not the only highly ranked team.
“If I’m not mistaken, three of the top five teams in the EuroBasket Power Rankings are in our group. So, it’s going to be a big challenge for us, but we’re all looking forward to it” – said Sehnal.
Serbia is a favorite
Although there are several contenders for the gold at EuroBasket, Ondrej Sehnal has no doubt when it comes to choosing the top favorite — and it’s one of the Czech Republic’s group opponents.
“In my eyes, Serbia is the number one favorite in the tournament. They have some of the best players in the world on their team. We’re looking forward to the group stage match against Serbia because we want to compete with the best teams.”
A major blow for the Czech Republic will be the absence of one of their best and most experienced players. Due to injury, Jan Vesely won’t be part of the squad and won’t be able to help his teammates.
“Jan Vesely will be greatly missed. I don’t need to say much about what he brings on the court — we all know he’s one of the best big men in Europe. He’ll also be missed in the locker room because he’s a really fun guy and a great leader” – Sehnal concluded.
The Czech Republic will play their first EuroBasket game against Portugal on August 27. After that, they’ll face Turkey, Estonia, and Serbia. In their final group stage match, the Czechs will take on the host nation, Latvia.
