Iceland unveil final roster for maiden EuroBasket

REYKJAVIK (EuroBasket 2015) - Iceland on Tuesday unveiled the 12-man roster that will represent the nation at next month's EuroBasket 2015, the first-ever participation in a major tournament in the Nordic country's basketball history.

In order to mark the historic occasion, Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson received the players and coaching staff of the ground-breaking national team as well as the Iceland Basketball Federation (KKI) officials and stated that his government has approved extra funding for KKI.

"It is a great achievement of the Icelandic national team to play at the EuroBasket tournament," Prime Minister Gunnlaugsson said.

"This is in line with the performance of Icelandic athletes in various sports, who are considered very good in comparison with the best athletes in the world.

"This achievement underlines the excellent conditions for sports activities in Iceland. We have the motivation to do even better in that regard."

In putting together the final roster, Iceland head coach Craig Pedersen relied primarily on the core of players who earned a berth at EuroBasket 2015 during last summer's 2nd Qualification Round.

"It [the selection process] was very difficult, up until the last moment we were weighing all options and different players," Pedersen explained to karfan.is

"At times I can still question myself but in the end we really studied what each player could give to the team, how we felt the pieces fit together and what we will need in different circumstances."

Iceland's big star, the former Unicaja Malaga guard Jon Stefansson who averaged 22 points in last summer's campaign, headlines the 12-man list.

Hordur Vilhjalmsson and Logi Gunnarsson were Iceland's second- and third-leading scorers in the 2nd Qualification Round, respectively, and in conjunction with Stefansson they form a tried-and-tested backcourt trio.

Haukur Palsson, the 23-year-old forward who is poised to assume the leading role on the national team in the near future, as well as Pavel Ermolinskij, are two more players of which Iceland expects big things in Berlin, after their enormously important contribution in the qualifying campaign.

Long-serving veteran point guard Jakob Sigurdarson, who had missed out on last summer's action, returned to the mix this year and has also been included on the EuroBasket team, so that he will be present at the biggest event in the history of Icelandic basketball.

Meanwhile, forwards Sigurdur Thorsteinsson and Sigurdur Thorvaldsson, who had participated in the qualifying campaign, as well as Brynjar Bjornsson, were the last three cuts that Pedersen was forced to make.

"I think that we've had most of our success during the past two years, that I have been here, using smaller-sized teams," the Iceland coach said in explaining his decision to leave out Thorsteinsson and Thorvaldsson.

"Of course we have some problems with other teams' size but this weekend in Estonia for example I was extremely pleased with Pavel's [Ermolinskij] play in one of the bigger positions and that is where this decision came from."

Iceland will play their milestone EuroBasket 2015 opener against Group B hosts Germany.

They will then take on Italy, Serbia, Spain and finally Turkey in Berlin.

Iceland final roster for EuroBasket 2015: Hlynur Baeringsson, Pavel Ermolinskij, Logi Gunnarsson, Martin Hermannsson, Axel Karason, Helgi Magnusson, Ragnar Nathanaelsson, Haukur Palsson, Jakob Sigurdarson, Jon Stefansson, Aegir Steinarsson, Hordur Vilhjalmsson.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for complete coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA