VICTORIA (Canada) - Set to captain the Czech Republic at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Victoria, point guard Tomas Satoransky has his sights sets on getting his squad to the Tokyo Olympics. 

Should the 29-year-old Satoransky - who plays professionally for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls - help carry the team to victory in the Final on July 4 it would be the Czech Republic’s first Olympics since the separation of Czechoslovakia. 

FIBA caught up with the Satoransky during his final preparations before the Olympic qualifier tip-off. 

Make no mistake about it, the 6’7” (201cm) Satoransky looks to lead the Czech Republic to one place better than they did in the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament where they succumbed to Serbia in the Semi-Finals, 96-72, the eventual Rio 2016 Olympic Games silver medalists. 

 FIBA: Tomas, the Czech Republic is about to start its campaign to try and punch a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. What’s the mindset of the team? 

Satoransky: We are ambitious and we aren’t coming to Victoria just to play. We are here to play and to try to reach our goal which is going to the 2020 Olympics. We know it’s not an easy one because the teams are looking for the same thing, but we are going to give 100% at every game. We see each and every game as a final, and we want to show that the Czech Republic is a very competitive team. The guys are in good spirit, we are all very happy to be together again after those long months, and we are ready for the battles that are coming. We all dream about making it to Tokyo, and the road to Japan starts here in Canada.

Jan Vesely returns to the team after missing the last FIBA Basketball World Cup due to an injury. How important is it for the team to have him back?

It’s a great thing for us and a great thing for him, too, because he loves playing for the national team and he is a fantastic player. Jan is one of the best players in Europe, and to have him back with us is such a great plus. He knows the game very well, he is a great defensive player and he has a lot of experience too while playing in the NBA and in Europe.

We have a very good connection as we played for so long together under the national team jersey, and I am really excited to have him be on the court with us this week for official games. I feel like…it has been a while since we last did so, I haven’t checked how long but, yes, it has been a long time, way too long! (laughs). 

What are your thoughts on your first round opponents, Uruguay and Turkey?

Well, Uruguay is a good team, and they are in Victoria with the same goal as ours. They had a great campaign in the qualifiers in the Americas’ zone, and they play good basketball, so we will have to play at our best level. Turkey….well, we know them very well (editor: Satoransky finishing with a smile)

They’re a very good team, with a great mix of veterans, such as Ersan Ilyasova, and young guys who got plenty of talents, such ad Cedi Osman and Furkan Korkmaz. They have some very interesting youngsters too, and it’s a team that can play at a very high level, as they did at the last FIBA World Cup for example. We know how they play, and they know how we play, so it’s going to be a really intense European ‘derby’. 

Starting with two wins would be an ideal way to start the tournament.

Ideally, it is, yes. But we also know that if we lose one, we also have a chance to make it to the Semi-Finals, so we have to take one game at a time. Winning helps gain more and more confidence, and the goal is to win both games to start the Olympic Qualifying Tournament the best way. This is such a short format tournament, you have multiple options but the one we want to have is to win it all. We all want to have a long summer and go compete in Tokyo, that would be so amazing for our basketball, but also for the Czech Republic. 

How do you get ready for a tournament that is that short in terms of format and time?

Well, we couldn’t prepare all together because I joined the team in Montreal to take a flight to Victoria this weekend. They reunited in Europe to do a training camp, but we couldn’t practice all together until we got to Canada. I did a preparation in Chicago, as my wife give birth to our second child not that long ago, and I was able to train hard and I am ready for the tournament. Having a tournament that is that short is something to makes you focus on the games and the competition since day one because you have few games, not much time to rest between them and you just have to play your best and keep fighting until the end of the competition. It’s a long run to go to Japan, and we have 4 teams to beat first, and I hope we do so and fly to Tokyo in the next couple of weeks.

You already played in an OQT, in Belgrade, in 2016, what do you remember from it?

It was a very interesting experience despite losing to Serbia, who won the silver medal in the Olympics. We had some ups and downs during that OQT, but we gained a lot of experience by playing in this kind of competition. The team learned a lot from that tournament, and we did show our improvement by having a great performance at the last FIBA World Cup. We achieved an amazing result in China, and the team has played at a great level in the last couple of years. What we want to show Victoria is that we are one of the most competitive teams in the world - there are no doubts about that. 

The roster for the OQT is stacked with players that were part of the team at the last FIBA World Cup. How could you define the Czech National team?

We are fighters, we love to play with each other and we play as a team. Every player of the team, from the most known to the best known, wants to help the Czech Republic shine at the highest level, and when we play for the national team, we want to make our fellow compatriots proud. The team chemistry and our unity are some of our biggest strengths, and we are eager, each and every player, to keep showing great results the same way we did in China.

FIBA