ARG – Pinto: "Women's basketball on the rise in Argentina"

TOULOUSE (2010 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) - Eduardo Pinto is a coaching legend in Argentina. For the past 19 years he has worked with the women's national teams in all age categories.

Last year, he guided the U19 team at the FIBA World Championship in Thailand and was in charge of the senior sides that competed at the World Championship in Brazil in 2006 and the Olympics in Beijing two years later.

In recent years, Argentina's women's teams have not had the same amount of success as their male counterparts, but Pinto sees a positive trend in the nation's women's basketball set-up and has ambitious goals for the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship in France.

FIBA.com spoke to him ahead of Argentina's game against Belgium on Saturday.

FIBA: You had a tough game against China last night. Did you take anything out of it?
Pinto: Yesterday's game was decided by rebounding and also by (Argentina centre) Diane Cabrera picking up three fouls very early in the game. Those things changed the way we played. I don't take many positive out of it. Now we have to focus on the other games and the one against Belgium will be crucial.

FIBA: This is the first edition of the U17 World Championship for Women. What do you think of this initiative?
Pinto: For me this is an excellent opportunity to provide the players with a playing experience at the top level. And for the first time it is two years before we traditionally have this chance. The biggest step for the players is to go from U19 to the senior level. The step between U17 and U19 is not so drastic. That gives us coaches the opportunity to have some continuity for the ongoing work on their development.

FIBA: We just saw the U17 Men playing in Hamburg. Are the girls more mature at that age?
Pinto: No question. Tactically and mentally the girls clearly have the advantage at that age. And this event will further help them tremendously. The more international games they can play, the better for them.

FIBA: Are the youth teams a stepping stone to the senior national team?
Pinto: Yes, from the 12 players I coached at the U19 World Championship in Thailand last year, six of them made it to the extended roster for the senior team, and two played with us this summer.

FIBA: What are your expectations for this tournament?
Pinto: First of all it was very difficult to qualify for this championship. We beat Brazil by 20 points in the qualifier. Now we want to reach the top four. After that everything will be possible. Here are the best 12 teams in the world, but we think we can achieve.

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