After the draw held in Manila, men national basketball team of Serbia knows its opponents in the group phase of this world championship. Our “ Eagles” are in B group with national team of China, South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
Svetislav Pesic, Head coach of the Serbian national team , said about the draw outcome:
First impression is that it seems we have great draw. However, that is only the first impression for our funs, but for us, who are deeper in this matter and who know how this competition functions later , the draw has brought two things. The good thing is that we are in Manila and we will not have to travel until the end of our participation at the World Cup . The second one ,less favorable, is the competition system , as our ambitions are not only to pass the group and qualify in the quarter finals , but also to win in that quarter final game. In such projected case our opponents in quarter finals come from group C and D , that is the national teams of the USA, Greece and Lithuania . Anyway , that is a draw and we have no influence on it. It is very early to talk about our participation in more details, as we do not have information on the players who will participate, duration of our preparation and so on. But we can summarize that the draw in the first phase is good for us , and later to meet the candidates for medal and qualification for the Olympic games. Our first and main goal is to qualify in semi finals , and this is the way to secure qualification for the Olympic Games.