16/02/08 FIBA ANNOUNCES EUROBASKET DRAW Having successfully been promoted to the EuroBasket Division A Group by remaining undefeated in the summer of 2007, the Great Britain men's and women's teams can now prepare themselves for the challenges ahead with this season's opposition confirmed. The GB men will no doubt be tested with games against Israel (ranked 24 in the world after EuroBasket 2007), Bosnia and Herzegovina (38) and Czech Republic (56) but they will be confident that along with the presence of Chicago Bulls captain Luol Deng they can continue to prove their worth amongst Europe's elite. Games will take place between August 20 and September 20, dates and venues tbc. Meanwhile Scotland's Megan Moody will be hoping to impress once again for the women, this time against Lithuania (13), Germany (40), Ukraine (40) and Israel (45). Games will take place between August 13 and September 13, dates and venues tbc. "The most exciting aspect of the draw is that we now have opponents to finally focus on. We are excited to be back in Division A and begin our quest for Poland 2009," said men's coach Chris Finch. "There is a lot to be excited about but what remains paramount is that our players continue to show the commitment to the program that they have done in the past two years. "And now that we know our competition our on-court preparation will begin immediately." "A tough group filled with outstanding players and teams with great tradition," added women's coach Mark Clark. "Our players believe that we can build a tradition and the key is to respect everyone and fear no-one. We need to focus on our performance and the results will look after themselves."
Finally the U20 men
will play Portugal,
Finland, Norway and
Macedonia while the women will take on
Hungary, Slovak
Republic, Romania and
Ireland in the group stages of the
European U20 Division B Championships.
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