Russia ready to unleash Shved on Czechs, Bulgaria at start of Second Round of Qualifiers
MOSCOW (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Russia are set to have Aleksei Shved in their lineup for the first time in the World Cup Qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
MOSCOW (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Russia are preparing to have star guard Aleksei Shved in their lineup for the first time in the World Cup Qualifiers next month when they play at the Czech Republic and host Bulgaria.
| Russia 16-player squad for FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers | |||
| Semen Antonov | Evgenii Baburin | Nikita Balashov | Vitaly Fridzon |
| Petr Gubanov | Vladimir Ivlev | Sergey Karasev | Dmitry Khvostov |
| Artem Klimenko | Dmitrii Kulagin | Mikhail Kulagin | Nikita Kurbanov |
| Timofey Mozgov | Aleksei Shved | Ivan Ukhov | Andrey Zubkov |
Russia were without their talisman, a member of the All-Star Five at FIBA EuroBasket 2017, in the First Round and missed him dearly as they won just three of their six games.
Shved had averaged 24.3 points per game at the EuroBasket in Istanbul, making 35 shots from behind the arc in the process. Russia rode his back all the way to the Semi-Finals before finishing fourth.
In the First Round of the European Qualifiers for next year's World Cup in China, Russia missed Shved's scoring punch. They opened their campaign with an 81-76 loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and also fell twice to France, losing 75-74 in Strasbourg and 84-78 in Krasnodar.
He had been named for third window games at Belgium and at home to France but was not included on the 12-man roster for either contest.
Russia coach Sergei Bazarevich has named almost an identical squad to the one he gave before the third window for the September 13 game at the Czechs and the home clash with Bulgaria three days later.
Unlike the previous one, there is no veteran Andrei Vorontsevich. The 31-year-old forward Vorontsevich ended up not missing both games in the last window, an 84-66 win at Belgium and the home defeat to France.
Zenit's Eugene Valiev and Lokomotiv Kuban's Stanislav Ilnitsky have been named as reserves.
Timofey Mozgov is also in the 16-man squad for the games against the Czechs and Bulgaria
Russia's players will gather in Novogorsk on August 26 and train there until September 5. The team will then travel to St. Petersburg and host a preparation tournament that also includes Israel and Poland.
Every single game is crucial in the European Qualifiers and especially for Russia, who will begin the Second Round in third place in Group K behind France (6-0) and the Czechs (5-1), and ahead of Finland (3-3), Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina (both 2-4).
The top three sides from each of the four Second Round groups will qualify for the World Cup.
FIBA