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Two European champions will not go to the Olympics

Following the results of the one-and-a-half-month preparation for the Olympics, which ended yesterday on the floor of the Sports Palace in the town of Vidnoye near Moscow, the international tournament for the VTB Cup, head coach of the Russian women's basketball team Igor Grudin, named the squad for participation in the upcoming summer Games.

The following will perform in Beijing: point guards and attacking defenders - the debutant of our national team, naturalized American Becky Hammon, Marina Karpunina, Oksana Rakhmatulina, Ilona Korstin, Svetlana Abrosimova; forwards - Marina Kuzina, Tatyana Shchegoleva, Irina Sokolovskaya, Natalya Vodopyanova; centers - Maria Stepanova, recognized as the best basketball player in Europe for two years in a row, Irina Osipova and Ekaterina Lisina. The last change to the Olympic combat dozen can be made 72 hours before the start of the first match, that is, no later than 18:15 Moscow time on August 6.

Compared to the 2007 European Championship, which was victorious for the Russians, two are missing - Ekaterina Demagina and Olga Arteshina. After Hammon accepted Russian citizenship and brought her into the lineup, there is no need for Demagina’s presence. In the 2007/08 national championship, she played for “Vologda-Chevakata” and Spartak near Moscow.” In terms of level of play, Ekaterina is significantly inferior to the American; she previously made the national team only because of the terrible shortage of great point guards in our women’s basketball. CSKA forward Olga Arteshina, who has excellent sniper qualities, went on maternity leave during the club season.

The main prize of the VTB Cup went to Spain. Playing in Moscow without their leader, the most valuable player of the 2007 European Championship Amaya Valdemoro, the Spanish team yesterday were able to take revenge from the hosts for their defeat in the final of the continental championship - 90:73. The Russians' top scorer was Stepanova, who added nine rebounds to her 18 points. There is nothing tragic about the defeat of our team. After all, it was an ordinary test match, albeit within the framework of an international tournament. In previous days, the Russians prevailed over Israel (84:69) and the Czech Republic (75:61). Other VTB Cup matches ended as follows: Spain - Czech Republic - 66:63, Israel - Spain - 69:58, Czech Republic - Israel - 88:68.

The head of the Russian Basketball Federation, Sergei Chernov, formulates the task of the silver medalist of the world championship and the best team of the Old World at the Olympic tournament: to perform in the finals. Note that the general balance of power in women's basketball is quite conservative. At the last two Olympics and three world championships, Australia and the USA were invariably among the winners, and Russia was left without medals only once, losing to the Brazilians in the dramatic quarterfinals of the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Ilya TRISVIATSKY