Armenia gears up for FIBA U16 and U18 Women’s European Championships
Posted on July. 13. 2023
YEREVAN, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian U16 and U18 women’s basketball teams are getting ready for the 2023 FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship, Division C and FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship , Division C tournaments this summer.
The FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship, Division C is one of 16 youth events that will take place across the summer of 2023.
The tournament will take place in Andorra la Vella, Andorra from July 18-23, 2023.
And the 2023 edition of the FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship, Division C will take place in Durres, Albania from August 1-6, featuring seven national teams from across Europe.
The Armenian U16 team will face Georgia, Malta, Gibraltar, while the U18 team will compete against Moldova, Kosovo and Albania.
“I don’t like to make predictions, but I think our team is in a normal shape,” Vahagn Harutyunyan, the head coach of the Armenian U16 and U18 women’s basketball teams told ARMENPRESS.
Four players from the U.S. will join the main squad, he said. “But the players who participated in the national tournament will bear the main burden. I think we will be able to reach the finals,” Harutyunyan said.
Asked to assess the U16 team’s rivals Georgia, Malta and Gibraltar, the coach said: “As a rule, Malta competes in this kind of tournaments with a fine team. I don’t recall any round of tournament where they had a weak team. Meanwhile in Georgia, women’s basketball is developing rapidly because they are making large investments. For comparison, they virtually had no women’s teams in 2017, but just a few years ago they already won in one of their subgroups. Gibraltar’s team is below average. But they too have developed. Without exaggeration, our team won’t face easy opponents in this group.”
Speaking about Armenian basketball and the development of the sport in the country, coach Harutyunyan said the fact that national championships are being held already means that there is development. “We now have women players who meet European standards. We have Seda Gabrielyan in our team, who was named MVP in the previous tournament. But I think our problem is that we ought to organize annual trainings under clear schedules instead of calling up players from championship to championship, so that the players start hearing the voice of the coach and get to know each other better,” he said.
Harutyunyan said the U18 team includes experienced players who’ve been playing in the Division C for three years. Three experienced players from the U.S. will join the team. “But local players will be the core. If we were to compare with the men’s team, my vision is that our local players should get the chance to play, even if they play poorly. It’s easy to bring players from abroad and become champions.”
Coach Harutyunyan said the Armenian teams are still not ready for Division B. “Years ago we took the risk [of competing in higher division]. Those two participations were a good lesson for me that we are still not ready for Division B. We need years of experience and infrastructures, which, to be honest, we don’t have now. But this is not the federation’s problem, the problem is that we don’t have our own.”
Speaking about the U18 opponents Moldova, Kosovo and Albania, coach Harutyunyan said defeating Kosovo is going to be the main objective. “So far we’ve never surpassed them [Kosovo]. In this age group we participate exclusively with the goal to win. If both our teams reach the finals in the European championships, it will be considered a victory for us. And if the team wins gold it will be an excellent result,” the head coach said.