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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 4:10:18 GMT -5
LITHUANIA – host nation of 2011 European Basketball Championship. It will be already the second time, when Lithuania has hosted EuroBasket, and the first time since restoration of it’s independece in 1990. After winning EuroBasket 2003, which was held in Sweden, Lithuania decided to held this competition in it’s own country. Whareas basketball in Lithuania is like 2nd religion with very deep traditions in this sports it seemed to be a really good place to held 2011 European Basketball Championship. Now Lithuania hopes to make a really big celebration for Basketball fans and it’s lovers on 2011 EuroBasket Championship. Team structure changed It was first decided that in Eurobasket 2011 will participate 16 countries, however on 2010 September 5 it was decided that in this competition will participate 24 teams and it will be the biggest championship ever. That means that more countries can enjoy this tournament seeing their own team in it. Teams qualified to the competition: Host nation Lithuania Participants of 2010 FIBA World Championship Croatia France Germany Greece Russia Slovenia Spain Serbia Turkey Qualified through Qualifying Round Belgium Great Britain Israel Macedonia Montenegro Qualified through FIBA Europe decision Italy Latvia Ukraine Bosnia and Herzegovina Georgia Bulgaria Poland eurobasketlithuania.com/news/eurobasket-2011-lithuania
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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 4:13:25 GMT -5
Groups Draw:
GROUP A
Spain Turkey Lithuania Great Britain Poland Qualifier 2
GROUP B
Serbia France Germany Israel Italy Latvia
GROUP C
Greece Croatia Montenegro F.Y.R.O.M. Boznia and Herzegovina Qualifier 1
GROUP D
Slovenia Russia Belgium Georgia Bulgaria Ukraine
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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 4:15:01 GMT -5
Group C's gonna be a doozy ;D
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Post by Caslav Klonimirovic on Jan 31, 2011 5:27:22 GMT -5
Its just amazing how strong Balkan representation is in basketball... I think it is reflective of the dominant Dinaric racial type. Every single former Yugo country plus Bulgaria have qualified. Its interesting also that the peoples considered most closely related and autochthonous to the Balkans (the Albanans and Romanians) are unable to represent (& practically ever at that) suggesting that there may be some distinct racial difference here. Also perhaps encourages the short stereotype neighbouring peoples have of Albanians. Sounds bad but thats what people are thinking.
Anyway, Serbia finished 2nd in this tournament last time round with the youngest team of the tournament. The following year at the worlds we beat the team that beat us in the final of the Euros the previous year (Spain) and finished fourth very unlucky to loose to Turkey in the semis. If Serbia holds it's roster plus adds a couple of good guys that didn't play last time (like Milicic who's in form in the NBA this year) then we should be challenging. Crna Gora has a very solid team. They have some old players but a couple of excellent young guys like Pekovic & Dasic. Would be good to see them defeat Croatia I'm sure it's an instance in which most Serbs would support Montenegro as a separate entity for a change.
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gavrilo
Amicus
Vi ste svi banane
Posts: 840
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Post by gavrilo on Jan 31, 2011 9:59:46 GMT -5
no albania?
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Post by srbobran on Jan 31, 2011 13:24:00 GMT -5
lol they got pretty much the entire former yugoslavia in Group C. Anyways, some good points there Arsenije. We've always raped at basketball, not to mention South Slavs are a very athletic people in general.
Hopefully serbia matches or beats last years pretty amazing preformace. Serbian basketball is definately on its way back up again.
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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 13:26:51 GMT -5
They probably got eliminated in the qualifiers by a superpower like liechtenstein ;D
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Post by zoti on Jan 31, 2011 17:04:12 GMT -5
Its just amazing how strong Balkan representation is in basketball... I think it is reflective of the dominant Dinaric racial type. Every single former Yugo country plus Bulgaria have qualified. Its interesting also that the peoples considered most closely related and autochthonous to the Balkans (the Albanans and Romanians) are unable to represent (& practically ever at that) suggesting that there may be some distinct racial difference here. Also perhaps encourages the short stereotype neighbouring peoples have of Albanians. Sounds bad but thats what people are thinking. Yeah because when one thinks of Greeks one thinks of giants. All the former Yugo countries benefitted from the strong emphasis Yugoslavia place on sports. Is it surprisig that the tallest nation is not even represented at the Euros?
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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 17:18:54 GMT -5
^The stereotyping only works negatively in this case, not vice-versa.
Height isn't that important in basketball, so that isn't surprising. If the Yugos had such an extraordinary emphasis on sports, Kosovars would actually have good teams.
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Post by Caslav Klonimirovic on Jan 31, 2011 17:19:30 GMT -5
Greeks are not short that's for sure. Maybe you have that short Greek fisherman type but that's only one kind of Greek. Half of Australia is Greek and nobody thinks Greeks are short. There's heaps of huge Greeks. Plus Greeks think Albanians are short so tells you everything.
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Post by plisbardhi on Jan 31, 2011 18:31:19 GMT -5
Dinaricism is definately associated with athleticism, lean muscular bodies with good average height. Kosovars and anytype of Yugoslavism were usually mutually antagonistic/exclusive. Serbs, who were mostly in a power postion over Albanians, were not exactly favorable to any type of advancement of Albs especially when there were competing Serbs. I hear JNA stories all the time when Albs out perform Serbs in something like shooting for example and the Serb then gets bitched out by his officer for not being better. Likewise a reward for a Serb for an outstanding achievement in shooting for example would be like a week off or something like that, while the reward for an Alb for the same thing would be much less. It was really all self-promotion for the most powerful and this was a general trend thoughout Yugoslavia. Hence the ethnic majority of Serbs and their advancement at the expense of others creating so much discontent among non-Serbs.
Its even a stereotype of Serbs to be going around in athletic clothing, even if only to promote the image of athleticism. As for Albs, you got to be a little more than athletic to produce the number of individual talented fighters that we do. If you think about it, it even promotes the culture-sports theory (of which the genes are still a necessary prerequisite). Yugoslavs had a strong sports culture, and Albanians have a strong fighting culture (not so much organized as much as generally), hence our over representation in the respective fields.
Arsenije, either take a trip to Prishtina if you have the balls, or cite an anthropological study where our supposed short height is noted. Otherwise you're just talking shit.
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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 18:43:21 GMT -5
Dinaricism is definately associated with athleticism, lean muscular bodies with good average height. Kosovars and anytype of Yugoslavism were usually mutually antagonistic/exclusive. Serbs, who were mostly in a power postion over Albanians, were not exactly favorable to any type of advancement of Albs especially when there were competing Serbs. I hear JNA stories all the time when Albs out perform Serbs in something like shooting for example and the Serb then gets bitched out by his officer for not being better. Likewise a reward for a Serb for an outstanding achievement in shooting for example would be like a week off or something like that, while the reward for an Alb for the same thing would be much less. It was really all self-promotion for the most powerful and this was a general trend thoughout Yugoslavia. Hence the ethnic majority of Serbs and their advancement at the expense of others creating so much discontent among non-Serbs. Its even a stereotype of Serbs to be going around in athletic clothing, even if only to promote the image of athleticism. As for Albs, you got to be a little more than athletic to produce the number of individual talented fighters that we do. If you think about it, it even promotes the culture-sports theory (of which the genes are still a necessary prerequisite). Yugoslavs had a strong sports culture, and Albanians have a strong fighting culture (not so much organized as much as generally), hence our over representation in the respective fields. Arsenije, either take a trip to Prishtina if you have the balls, or cite an anthropological study where our supposed short height is noted. Otherwise you're just talking s**t. I don't know...Kosovars aren't even known for having good fighters on a global or even European level. Meanwhile little old Montenegro is ranked #25 in the world at soccer, Serbia & Yugoslavia repeatedly won world/european Basketball championships, a Serb is current heavyweight boxing champion in Canada...Montenegro won the European championship in Waterpolo. What did Albania or Albanians ever win on a European/World level? Or specifically Kosovars?
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Post by kijgol on Jan 31, 2011 19:01:20 GMT -5
There's more to basketball than just height and athleticism especially in the European game. Fundamentals and team skills are more important IMO. The problem with Albania is the game is not very popular and we have no history with the sport. It is seldom you will find children playing with a basketball let alone find any basketball hoops in Albania.
To put this in perspective, why are the Americans (primarily black atheletes) so dominant at basketball while the African teams are terrible. Do you honestly believe the African teams are shorter or less athletic than their black counterpart in the United State?. Or do you believe the popularity of basketball for black American youths and the history of the game in the United states plays a bigger role. I choose the latter.
PS:
I see FYROM uses some black athletes on their national team. Any other balkan teams use any?
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Post by kijgol on Jan 31, 2011 19:09:53 GMT -5
^The stereotyping only works negatively in this case, not vice-versa. Height isn't that important in basketball, so that isn't surprising. If the Yugos had such an extraordinary emphasis on sports, Kosovars would actually have good teams. You're assuming that Albanians in Yugoslavia had the same access as their Slavic counterparts or even had similar athletic facilities. Albanians in the YU were struggling with basic rights let alone competing in extracurricular activities.
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Post by plisbardhi on Jan 31, 2011 19:15:27 GMT -5
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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 19:16:18 GMT -5
To put this in perspective, why are the Americans (primarily black atheletes) so dominant at basketball while the African teams are terrible. Do you honestly believe the African teams are shorter or less athletic than their black counterpart in the United State?. Or do you believe the popularity of basketball for black American youths and the history of the game in the United states plays a bigger role. I choose the latter. It's a bit of both. Black Americans during slavery were selectively bred, thus they are more often bigger and stronger than their African counterparts.
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Post by terroreign on Jan 31, 2011 19:31:58 GMT -5
Don't get c*cky now...from that article it doesn't look like Luan ever really got anywhere. The "WBO" isn't a world-recognized Boxing organization. Luan's miles ahead the rest of his compatriots though.
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Post by drinus123 on Feb 2, 2011 0:56:02 GMT -5
WBO is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. It's funny how quick our dear neighbors try to devalue achievements.
Serbia is overrated in sports. You play waterball against your slavic brethren, you win, and suddely you're great at sports. LOL
Albania will be able to compete in soccer & basketball when it joins Kosovo leagues. Thus reaching it's full potential.
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Post by srbobran on Feb 2, 2011 1:03:35 GMT -5
^Weve won several basketball championships, we have like 7 guys in the NBA, waterpolo, were raping the shit out of tennis right now, our soccer team actually made it to the world cup (unlike the Albanians). Lets be real, Serbia's achievements in sport are far more prominent than the Albanian ones.
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Post by terroreign on Feb 2, 2011 1:06:46 GMT -5
Both the IBF and WBO are splinter groups of the WBA. The IBF (then the USBA) left the WBA (under Robert Lee) in 1983 and the WBO broke away in 1988.
All four are recognised as legitimate sanctioning bodies in most countries but the Ring magazine (recognized standard for Boxing) only recognises the WBA, WBC and IBF. Japan and South Korea only recognise the WBA and WBC.
Waterpolo is European. Serbia/Monte beat teams for example Italy, Switzerland, England, Spain, Hungary, etc.
And Montenegro with 600.000 people being #25 in the world in Soccer, and Albania being #64 says it all.
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