BEL – Hervelle excited about EuroBasket opportunity

MADRID (EuroBasket 2011) - It's going to be a dogfight for Belgium at this summer’s EuroBasket in Lithuania.

They will be among the 24 teams taking part in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

"We'd been fighting to get back to the European Championship for a long time," Axel Hervelle (pictured with Sam Van Rossom) told FIBA.com.

"Everyone is so happy.

"I don't know what it's going to be like.

"I've never played in one. It's going to be the first time.”

Reaching the London Games isn’t the primary aim of the team which is back in the EuroBasket for the first time since 1993.

“I hope that we can play well, enjoy ourselves and pass the first round,” Hervelle added.

"This is the goal of our team."

The Belgians were drawn in Group D of the EuroBasket with two quarter-finalists from last year's FIBA World Championship, Slovenia and Russia, along with Bulgaria, Georgia and Ukraine.

In last year’s Division A tournament, Belgium swept Georgia in Group C while splitting their two encounters with Bulgaria.

They ended up first  in the pool after a 70-67 win over Poland, a result that gave the team a 6-2 record.

"We need everyone,” warned the 27-year-old native of Liege.

“If everyone can come and be in the team, I think maybe we can make something better. There's no telling how far we can go."

Hervelle, a second-round pick in the 2005 NBA Draft by Denver, hasn’t crossed the Atlantic to play professionally.

He was on the books of Real Madrid for several years before leaving the club last January for Bilbao.

On Friday, he is playing in the Copa del Rey against Caja Laboral in a Basque derby on Friday.

"Everything is really nice here in Spain," he said.

"I'm with a team that has a lot of ambition that is trying to fight and get to the Euroleague.

"I'm really happy in Bilbao.

"The team is nice, everything is professional so we have to enjoy it."

FIBA