MKD - Trajkovski waiting in the wings

SKOPJE (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - When F.Y.R. of Macedonia gather again next summer and attempt to build on their stunning run to the EuroBasket 2011 Semi-Finals by qualifying for the London Games, one of the national side’s biggest fans – both literally and figuratively - will hope to be there.
 
The 2.06m Bojan Trajkovski, a versatile forward with KK Torus Skopje, is one of the talented players that coach Marin Dokuzovski could add to the Macedonia squad for the 12-team FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Venezuela.
 
In 12 Macedonian league games this season, the 25-year-old is averaging 16.7 points and 7.6 rebounds.
 
Like many big men in the country, Trajkovski is a threat from long range.

He is burying 32.1% (17 of 53) from behind the arc for Torus.
 
While he did not play in Lithuania, Trajkovski was among the tens of thousands of people in Skopje who lived and breathed every second of Macedonia’s EuroBasket campaign which saw them upset hosts Lithuania and then fall to eventual champions Spain in the last four and to Russia in the last second of the bronze-medal game.

Trajkovski spoke to FIBA.com.
 
FIBA: Bojan, what were your thoughts watching the team play at the EuroBasket? Did the team’s performance make you want to be in the senior team more than ever?
Trajkovski: To be honest, when I watched the Euro games I was devastated because I was not there. Not because I was not picked up for the national team selection, but because I couldn’t help, and I know I could have helped – A LOT. After Tose (Todor Gecevski) got injured, we were missing power under the basket, and Kire (Kiril Nikolovski) was also absent from the paint. With another big man, we would have won that medal that we wanted so much. But there is time, no worries. Maybe even next summer, why not?

FIBA: Did you see all the games?
Trajkovski: Of course I watched all of our games, without a blink! Every living Macedonian soul was doing the same. Are you serious with this question (he laughs)? All the games were exciting, but the Quarter-Final against Lithuania was an epic, an unforgettable fairy tale. There are no words to describe it. From the other games, I think Spain v France was the best, it was the Final, the match-up of two great teams, the greatest at the moment.

FIBA: Talk about the chemistry in that team.
Trajkovski: Our chemistry is something untellable, you can’t even imagine it if you don’t live with it. That was the main factor for our success, the unity and mutual understanding among the players. No one in this world can’t beat that! We lost to Spain, though, but we will get them next time (laughs again).

FIBA: Are you friends with the players in the Macedonia squad?
Trajkovski: I know all of my colleagues from the national team very well. We are all good friends on and off the court, and I hope I will be an integral part of our “pride of the century” one day.

FIBA: Is there a general philosophy of Macedonian basketball you have learned since boyhood?
Trajkovski: General philosophy? So far, we have always been underdogs. Even when we had strong teams we used to be “kicked” by weaker opponents, only because we missed something and for years couldn’t find out what it was - that last, glittering touch of victory. Now, even the biggest names strike no fear in us. We believe in our physical strength, our shooting, our defense. We do not dominate these fragments of the game alone. But we are the masters of psychology, and this is not overreacting or exaggerating. I do not want to underestimate or hurt anyone with my words, it’s just the way I feel.

FIBA: Is there anything you can compare with the three-pointer that sunk Lithuania in the last four? Is there anything to compare with 100,000 people at the city square in Skopje, all coming from every corner of this small country to watch the games?
Trajkovski: I don’t know how the others felt, but I was the proudest man on Earth that night. As we have already achieved a lot with this generation - and I can tell you that it sounds like people all over the world just can’t understand what it means for us, to be fourth in Europe - why not qualify for the Olympics, too? We have our motives and we have a big opportunity at the same time, maybe once in a lifetime. Maybe I say this because a lot of youngsters are on the way. It would have been great to play (the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) in the Boris Trajkovski Arena, our sports temple in the capital, but we will play in the Arctic if you want, just to get that ticket to London.

FIBA: What led you to basketball and which players did you admire, or inspired you?
Trajkovski: Professor Branko Krstevski, and please mention his name in this interview, is the man I will thank as long as I breathe. He took me off the street and taught me everything about the basics of basketball, this gorgeous and magical game. He was the only inspiration that I had, and I thank him for that. He was like a father figure to me.

FIBA: What are your chances of making the team?
Trajkovski: I think I have a good chance for the Venezuelan roster, but we will let Coach to decide that.
 
FIBA