CZE - Olympic Qualifying Tournament bid: Czech Republic profile

KARLOVY VARY (Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women) With the decision on who will host the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournaments for Men and Women set for 10-11 December, fiba.com is happy to bring you an insight into the bids of the countries hoping to welcome the two tournaments.

The first of our series of interviews looks at the Czech Republic, who are looking to organise the women's tournament.

We asked Milos Prazak, Secretary General of the Czech Republic Basketball Federation about the bid and the current state of basketball in his country.

FIBA: Can you explain to us why you are bidding for this championship/tournament?

Milos Prazak: In 2010 we managed to fulfil our role of good hosts, promoters and organisers for the FIBA World Championship for Women and that was followed up this past summer by the U16 European Championship Men. Both events were crowned by a medal success of our teams.

During the Women’s World Championship, the attendance record for a women’s game in the Czech Republic was broken and the Final of the EC U16 Men drew an astounding 5,500 spectators.

Karlovy Vary witnessed our women’s team last success and we believe that the city and the fans have developed a bond and taste with/for the women’s game and are eager to host another high quality, world class event.

FIBA: What are the strong points of your bid?

Prazak: Our bid's strong points include experience and success in organisation of such an event (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women); excellent quality and proven venue in Karlovy Vary (KV Arena); the highest possible quality of accommodation in Karlovy Vary; a continuity of fan interest in the women’s game carried over from the last event; interesting touristic destination for any fans accompanying their respective teams; a high degree of support from local and regional institutions; and of course, availability of local airport and proximity to Prague’s international airport.

FIBA: How big of an advantage will playing at home be for your team?

Prazak: As national team games are the only true product of federations, we would like to help as best as possible our women’s team to reach the Olympic Games. It goes without saying that having the support of the home crowd, the luxury of playing and preparing in familiar surroundings without the need of travel will boost our teams chances of qualification.


FIBA: Apart from home court advantage, what will hosting an Olympic Qualifying Tournament bring to your country and to basketball there?

Prazak: It is always the aim of any federation to try to obtain events that will help promote basketball. Our federation set itself a goal of successfully organising an international event each year.

Our federation has registered strong interest from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, as well as the Czech Olympic Committee and the local authorities (Mayor of the City of Karlovy Vary) to organise this event.

In the last two years, our federation has developed a quality relationship with the aforementioned institutions and would like to continue that cooperation/partnership.

Additionally, Ceska Sportovni, the federation’s marketing agent during the last two successful basketball events, has signalled interest in cooperating again with us during the organisation of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Ceska Sportovni is a premier player in sports marketing field, having over a decade long tradition and experience in marketing world class sports affairs.

FIBA: What is the greatest moment in your country’s basketball and how big of an achievement would it be for your team to qualify for the 2012 Olympics?

Prazak: The history of Czech (and also Czechoslovak) basketball has a lot of great moments. If we take into consideration only the last 18 years of Czech Basketball (following the split of Czechoslovakia into two separate countries), our small country has had a lot of successful moments in its short basketball history.

We took gold at the 2001 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women, gold at the 2002 U20 European Championship for Women in Zagreb. There was a silver medal for the Czech Senior Women’s Team at the 2003 EuroBasket Women in Greece and two years later a gold in Turkey.

Our last success (the women’s silver medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) clearly has a unique place in our trophy case.

Furthermore, the quality of our women’s basketball can be attributed to the team’s participation at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic games.

The men’s team has not caught up to their female counterpart yet unfortunately and we can only show a couple of medals from U16 EC as achievements.

Click here to find out more about the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for Men and for Women.

FIBA