THE FIBA WOMEN’S EUROBASKET-2021 QUALIFIERS. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS FIRST TRAINING SESSION IN RIGA

Today, on 1^st February, Nataliya Trafimava’s team had a training session at the Arena-Riga. There they will play against the team of Poland and Great Britain on February 3^rd, 4^th, and 6^th February 2021.

12 basketball players represent the National Team: Anastasiya Veremeyenka, Viktoriya Hasper, Yulia Rytsikava, Volha Ziuzkova, Yanina Inkina (all – "Horizont", Belarus), Alena Karasevich, Yuliya Vasilevich, Yana Haliakova (all  –  "Olimpia", Belarus), Maryia Papova (UMMC, Russia), Aryna Masko ("Peresvet", Russia), Tatiana Likhtarovich ("Basket ESCH", Luxembourg), Hanna Brych ("Kazanochka", Russia).

All delegation members took tests for coronavirus upon the arrival in Latvia, which gave negative results. Due to the epidemiological situation, all games of the group will be held in the so-called "bubble" (closed format).

The first training session began with the team congratulating Aryna Masko on happy birthday.

Aryna Masko Women's National team player: "For the first time I had a chance to celebrate my birthday away from home. However, I am pleased that during this period I am lucky to be part of the National team here in Riga, where we will compete for a ticket to the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket-2021. Of course, making it to the final can be the most valuable present not only for me, but also for our entire team. We will do everything possible to win the right to play among the strongest national teams at the main FIBA Women's European tournament of the upcoming summer."

Katsiaryna Snytsina ("Nesibe Aydin", Turkey) and Alex Bentley ("Dynamo", Kursk, Russia) will join the National team this evening.

Schedule for upcoming games of the Window 3 of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers: 

03.02.2021

Belarus – Poland

Start at 15.00

04.02.2021

Belarus – Great Britain

Start at 14.30

06.02.2021

Poland – Belarus

Start at 14.30

*Start according to the Belarusian time

All three games will be shown live on the Belarus 5 TV channel. Live broadcasts will also be available on the official FIBA YouTube channel.

Note:

It should be noted that on 17 November 2019, the Belarusian Women's National Team entered the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers. In the first and currently only qualifying game, held in Manchester, Natalyia Trafimova's team did not leave a chance for the Great Britain team (90:59).

However, in November 2020, our team was unable to participate in the Window 2 of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers due to detected cases of COVID-19 in the National Team. Later it became known that this game between the National Teams of Belarus and Poland, will be played as part of the Window 3 of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers in February.

33 teams take part in the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers. The nine group winners and the top five runners-up teams will qualify for the final round of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021. In order to determine the place in the group, all games will be taken into account. It also should be noted that the selection of the top five runners-up teams will not include the results of games against the 4th place teams in the groups of four.

The final part of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket will take place from 17th to 27th June 2021 in France and Spain.