SRB - Injury-ravaged Serbia & Montenegro rely on U20 star Tepic

 WIN a trip to the FIBA World Championship Finals weekend

BELGRADE (FIBA World Championship) - Serbia & Montenegro have drafted U20 team captain Milenko Tepic into their preliminary squad after being hit with an injury crisis.

Starting playmaker Vule Avdalovic and Arizona forward Ivan Radenovic are sidelined in Belgrade undergoing therapy, while captain Igor Rakocevic came down with a fever after their 77-66 warm-up victory over China.

Rakocevic did play in Monday’s final of the Torneo Comunitat Valenciana but had a poor game, and his team suffered an 89-62 to hosts Spain.

Four forwards, including starter Branko Jorovic as well as Miroslav Raicevic, Goran Nikolic and Ognjen Askrabic, were all absent with injuries from the Spanish defeat.

Coach Dragan Sakota said: "We've wanted to have some benefits from our trip to Spain, but that was impossible. Results were never our first goal there, so our first defeat after six victories in a row is nothing to be worried about.

"But the fact that we were hit by numerous injuries has really endangered our plans.

"Luckily for us, the chief of our medical staff Dragan Radovanovic has said that all of our sidelined players will be available again soon, but I was forced to call up young Tepic as we are lacking players at guard position.

"Tepic was a logical choice for the preliminary squad, as he showed he's ready for the biggest challenges."

Tepic, 19, won the U20 European Championships in Izmir. That young national team did not lose a single game.

With him as captain, Serbia & Montenegro captured their first U20 European title since 1998.
He averaged 12.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in Izmir.

As for the senior side, the two-time defending world champions are in Group A of this year's tournament with 2004 Olympic champions Argentina and 2005 EuroBasket bronze medalists France as well as Nigeria, Venezuela and Lebanon.


From Darko Nikolic, PA Sport, Belgrade
Exclusively for FIBA