The best young basketball players in the world jump in Debrecen

In three years, Debrecen will host the third international basketball tournament, after the U-19 and U-17 Women’s World Cup, this time the city will host the U-19 World Championship. The event, which takes place between June 24 and July 2, will be held in two locations in parallel, and in addition to the Főnix Arena, the most talented players in the world will compete in the Oláh Gábor Street gym.

In this regard, the organizers held a press conference in the Jupiter Room of the Aquaticum Hotel on Thursday noon. At this event, Mayor Laszlo Papp expressed his pleasure that Cívisváros is hosting one of the most important recruitment events in the world. Teams and players come to us from all over the world. I would like to thank FIBA ​​for the many years of support, thanks to which the city has already hosted several international basketball events. This will be the 29th world basketball event in our country, which shows excellent cooperation and which is also confirmed by the International Federation.

There will also be a concrete example of how good the collaboration between FIBA ​​and the city is: on July 1, we will open the FIBA ​​Gift, a work depicting a hand throwing a basketball. The mayor said that this is a very beautiful symbol of joint action, stressing that this World Cup has tourism and economic impact.

There will be no shortage of stars at the event in Debrecen, as in addition to the greatest talents of the present, the greats of the past will also appear in the stands.

But Jonas Makulis, the former Lithuanian national team player who made a lasting impression with Real Madrid and Panathinaikos, will also be here, who will also make a youth presentation.

At that time, 44 years ago, the first FIBA ​​Under-19 Men’s World Cup was held in Brazil, and the tournament in Debrecen will be the 16th global event of this kind. Initially, the World Championships were held every four years, but since 2007 the world elite have been competing against each other every year. With the exception of the United States, which has won the tournament eight times, no country has been able to win twice so far, and Yugoslavia, Greece, Spain, Australia, Serbia, Lithuania and Canada can also be proud of their respective first places.

later world stars

There is great interest in the event in Hungary and around the world, many talented players come to Debrecen, many of whom will certainly play in the NBA or the Euroleague, which in a few years can be considered the pinnacle of professional basketball. In the past decades, many future world stars have visited the U-19 World Championships, and among those who are currently playing in professional leagues abroad, such as Steve Curry, Nicola Jukix, Klay Thompson and Jason Tatum, are among those currently playing in the youth tournament. Old stars include Vince Carter, Pau Gasol, Luis Scola, Tony Cucui and Diane Boderoga. Andrew Bogut or Gary Payton has also appeared in the current World Series.

Gilles Tonoli, FIBA ​​Sports and Competition Director, has been in Debrecen for the third year in connection with the basketball event. – The relationship with the city and the organizers is great, and the current relationship is probably the most important joint event we have. Year after year we have gained more experience together, which is how we are gradually getting to the point where we can stage what we hope will be the best Under-19 World Championship yet. The specialist said that the association’s idea that the same city organizes a supply competition for three years was a new idea, and we proved it to be viable, because Debrecen organized high-quality tournaments.

Before a high level tournament

National teams from 16 countries are represented in the tournament, which managed to qualify from last year’s continental tournaments. Hungary earned the right to start as host. The draw took place in March at Debrecen Reformed Collegiate School. Kornél Váradi’s students have been drawn into a medium-strength group, and their opponents will be South Korea, Argentina and Turkey. After the first three matches, they will have an opponent in the first sixteen positions according to their position in the group, after which the national teams will continue in two divisions, in addition to the quarter-finals, in the lowest division, 9-16. Teams can compete for a place.

– This is a great success for Hungarian basketball. We are facing a very high level tournament, so our team should not be under too much pressure. We are especially proud to have three players from Debrecen in the team, and I hope that they can also contribute to the team’s good performance – said the sports director.

DEAC player Robert Sagody represented the Hungarian team at the press conference. “This is a great opportunity for the whole team.” We started preparing a year ago, and have been able to train together every month. Fortunately, we avoided injuries, we have nothing to do, and we have to take advantage of our chances, – the basketball player from Debrecen vowed.

MSZ