MINSK (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) – The award of the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018 could not have been better timed when it comes to the future of the sport in Belarus.

It is exactly a decade since the nation’s favorite sports team rocketed to prominence with a historic and rather spectacular bronze medal at EuroBasket Women 2007 in Chieti. Not only did Belarus come crashing into focus, it paved the way for them to truly open a fantastical box of joy which won the hearts of a nation.

Their high point on Italian soil was surpassed within a little over 12 months, as they made an Olympic debut in Beijing and then played at the FIBA World Championship for Women in 2010.

Even if there were some setbacks such as a low-point in Poland at EuroBasket Women 2011 when they failed to reach the latter stages and make it to London 2012, the tears of despair reiterated just how far and how quickly expectations had rocketed.

In recent years, Belarus have somehow continued their consolidation as a leading women’s nation – not only in Europe, but globally. They defied the doubters [including myself] wrong by reaching the Semi-Finals of EuroBasket Women 2015 and then even more so by punching a ticket to Rio last year.

I am predicting rather strongly that this year we might see the disintegration of Belarus at EuroBasket Women 2017 – a special decade coming to an end and the need to look towards the future more than ever.

With serious doubt as to whether the legendary Yelena Leuchanka will be able to commit to the Final Round next month, and question marks still hanging over the likes of her fellow twin tower Anastasiya Verameyenka, Belarus are going to find it seriously tough going.

There is some hope that after the best season of her career at Galatasaray, Maria Papova will be able to step up and hopefully veteran winger Katsiaryna Snytsina will continue to show leadership on the wings.

But look a little deeper and you will find a rather sore lack of depth and a worrying lack of emerging players who can pick up the baton and build on the legacy created by a real fairytale story lasting 10 whole years.

Although what happened in Udine last summer at the FIBA U16 European Women’s Championship, suggested that while there may be something of a delay in the short-term, there are some green shoots of recovery at the grass-roots level.

Led by the brilliant combination of Kseniya Malashka and Yuliya Vasilevich, they not only survived in Division A [having gained promotion a year earlier from Division B], but went one step further by making it to the Quarter-Finals.

It showed huge potential and this summer in Bourges, there will be a firm focus on Belarus again to show 2016 was not just a lucky streak, but that they can remain competitive. Not least because the team that treads the boards in France will be the pride of their nation next year in Minsk at the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup.

Regretfully Malashka will be too old to compete, but with Vasilevich and some other very capable players, it will be very interesting to see them at the global level.

It gives these young players an opportunity to live and breathe the kind of experiences that their own heroes have managed before them. Whether it is the Olympic Games or the FIBA Women’s World Championships, these young players can gain an insight into what it has been like for the senior players to compete against countries from all over the planet.

Without being awarded the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018, I seriously believe that Belarus would have been risking the loss of a generation and only relying on a handful of decent young players.

But, just at the right time when we now gradually start waving goodbye to those that have been watched avidly on television by the entire population of Belarus, there is a major event for the next generation to be inspired by.

Something which potentially gives Belarus a reason to build positively for the future and not consign their status as a leading women’s basketball nation to the history-books.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

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