Selector of the women’s basketball team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, former BH. national team member and basketball player of Bosnia and Herzegovina Emir Halimić believes that BiH basketball won a lot in the qualifiers for the World Cup against Turkey and Serbia.
The BiH national team, led by the new coach Dario Gjergja, recorded two defeats at the beginning of the qualification, mainly due to complex FIBA rules, due to which a large number of national team members could not play for our selection due to club commitments.
In his statement to Fena, Halimić emphasizes that the national team, especially after the last home defeat against Serbia and the fans’ nationalist chants, in BiH. created a negative image in the media space, while gradually all the “positives” that accompanied the BiH selection in these matches, and which, in his opinion, should have been written about much more, were gradually lost.
– As a sports worker, it bothered me that after the match against Serbia, most of the writing was about cheering, chanting, the audience and things that are for Bosnia and Herzegovina. basketball much less important than what we could see on the court and around the national team lately. We should have paid much more attention to the farewell of long-time national team member and captain Miralem Halilović, who was always there for our team and gave his best on the field. After Atić’s technical error, we immediately forgot everything that this guy did for us over the years and how much he always played with his heart for the national team of this country – said Halimić.
He points out that the most positive surprise for him is how the bench of the BiH national team, led by a man who has just come to its helm, looked like during these two matches of the qualification for the World Cup, and the fact that the lack of main players of the national team was taken advantage of by the number of young basketball players who received invitations for this cycle of qualifications.
– We got together two, three days before the start of the qualifiers under a new coach who didn’t know who would come to his gathering, who he could count on for these matches, and we showed togetherness, emotions, fighting spirit and played two good matches. The defeat against Serbia came because of a couple of mistakes, the inexperience of some players, which is normal in this kind of situation. On the bench, Gjergja and Firić functioned excellently and survived everything very emotionally. We got back Sulejmanović, as well as young Marić, Simanić and Gutić, who are the future of the national team, and all that is what we need to talk about and write more about in the media – underlines Halimić.
He added that he believes that Bosnia and Herzegovina will celebrate in two matches against Switzerland in the next qualifying window and fully return to the game for the second round of World Cup qualifiers.
– I believe that we will register two victories against Switzerland. The selector has now seen what he can expect from the players, he got to know the team. I hope that Musa will recover, but that the coach will be able to count on other basketball players who were not available for the first two matches – concluded Halimić.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
