SRB - Door opens for youngsters as veteran trio pull out

BELGRADE (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic has yet to gather with his players to begin preparing for the EuroBasket in Slovenia and already the veteran has a minor crisis to deal with.

A couple of vital players in the past few years, Dusko Savanovic and Novica Velickovic, and veteran Zoran Erceg, won't be able to help the national side in their qualifying campaign for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup due to injuries.

"After medical examinations and consultations with medical committee of the Serbian Basketball Association, due to justified reasons we've removed Savanovic, Velickovic and Erceg from our preliminary list of candidates for the European Championship," Ivkovic said.

Both Savanovic and Velickovic were sensational at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Savanovic was one of the national team leaders at EuroBasket 2011 as well when he averaged 13.4 points.

Velickovic had been a standout player at EuroBasket 2009, when Serbia captured a silver medal but injuries prevented him from playing in 2011..

Erceg hasn't represented the national side in a major tournament since EuroBasket 2007 but has played well in Europe the past two seasons for Besiktas and CSKA Moscow.

Ivkovic has called in two replacements for the first gathering on 8 July.

"We've decided to call Nemanja Krstic, Mega Vizura's shooting guard from the (Serbia) under-20 team, and Nikola Kalinic, Vojvodina's forward from University Games team of Serbia," Ivkovic said.

"Since we are monitoring all our youth selections, there's a possibility for us to call additional players, when they finish with their respective tournaments during the summer."

Serbia will face Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), Montenegro and Latvia in Group B of EuroBasket 2013.

Serbia 19-man preliminary squad for EuroBasket: Milos Teodosic, Stefan Markovic, Vasilije Micic, Nemanja Nedovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Andjusic, Nemanja Dangubic, Nemanja Krstic, Nemanja Bjelica, Vladimir Lucic, Vladimir Micov, Nikola Kalinic, Milan Macvan, Stefan Bircevic, Nenad Krstic, Rasko Katic, Vladimir Stimac, Djordje Gagic and Dejan Musli.

FIBA