Between June 24 and July 2, Debrecen will host the FIBA U-19 World Youth Championship, where the best national teams and the most talented basketball players will compete against each other. Djorje Drenovac, who recently extended his contract with DEAC, celebrated the silver medal as captain of the Serbian national team at the World Cup in Latvia in 2011, so he has plenty of experience in under-19 global competition – written by Dish.
The DEAC striker was called up to the Serbian youth national team for the first time at the age of 15. He played for his country’s national team for the first time at the European Youth Olympic Games in Belgrade. Thanks to his talent and uncompromising play, which is still evident to this day, he made his way up the ranks and even captained the team at the 2011 U-19 World Championship. – We had a great team back then, with excellent players and very good coaches. We were very close to achieving the second U-19 World Cup success in the history of Serbia, but in the end the tournament ended with a silver medal for us. But in the final, we did not have an antidote to Jonas Valanciunas, who was able to dominate all World Cup matches, regardless of the opponent. I think we can still be proud of the result achieved, as we were able to bypass the teams of the USA, Australia, Russia or, for example, Croatia, said the captain of the Hajdug team.
Among Drenovac’s former teammates are players with serious careers, such as Atlanta Hawks star Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Kalinicz, who played in Barcelona’s Euroleague Final Four this year, or Luka Mitrovic and Stefan Jovic, who also played in Europe’s highest-profile series. Despite this, DEAC’s top scorer spent nearly 30 minutes on the field per game, his best match being against Croatia, who are currently in Falco with Boris Barak, where he was the top scorer on the field with 19 points. – I still remember that match, my task was to neutralize the star of the opponent, Dario Saric, and given that Barak was the best bowler in Croatia, I don’t think I did a bad job. Boris’s name is well known to the Hungarian fans as far as Falko is concerned, and in addition to being an excellent player even today, and even being one of the best players in NB I, it should be known that he was one of the best players in the U19 world. Cup, and it was no coincidence that he finished second behind Valanciunas with the most points in the championship. Experts unanimously considered him a talent of the Euroleague level, if knee surgeries at the beginning of his career had not slowed down his development, I am sure he would still have played there, – the player recalled the quarter-final match against Croatia.
The 2011 U-19 World Championship had no shortage of big stars in the future apart from the aforementioned trio of Valancionas, Bogdanovic and Sarek, for example Tim Hardaway Jr., Jeremy Lamb, Doug McDermott and Myers Leonard of the American team are still playing in the American League. for professionals. – Almost the entire team from the US team made it to the NBA, but there were really a lot of good players there at the World Cup, I don’t want to single out anyone so that no one is left out. Among my former opponents, I would probably mention the French national team, where it was a great experience to play against Rudi Gobert, Yvan Fournier and Leo Westermann, Drinovac said of his former rivals.
Incidentally, up to four DEAC youth teammates could be present at the U19 World Championships in Debrecen, as Robert Sagodi, Proun Hegedos, Patrick Hogy and Odam Varzegi are also members of the Hungarian national team. – It is a great honor for them to have the opportunity to join the national team, and I hope they all succeed. I can advise them to enjoy every minute, because not every day you participate in the World Cup. I am sure it will be an eternal experience for them, and like me, they will remember in ten years, even for the rest of their lives, what a wonderful feeling it was to represent their country against the best in the world – she concluded. The player is from the University of Debrecen.
HBN
