SRB - Medals not a priority for Nikolic

BELGRADE (FIBA U19 World Championship) - Serbia coach Miroslav Nikolic has played down his side's chances of taking a medal at the FIBA U19 World Championship.

Nikolic, who led Serbia's U20 squad to the European title in 2006, is charged with the task of resurrecting the U19 side's reputation after their poor performance at the last European Championships.

But Nikolic, while hoping to return pride to the ranks, is not expecting a podium place.

He said: "It's hard to speak about medals at the moment. It will be tough to get one of them, as there are numerous quality national teams in the world.

"USA is traditionally very strong, as are Argentina, France, Russia, Italy and Spain. But although they are really tough to beat, I think we can do well this summer.

"This generation got labelled "losers" for finishing 11th at the last European championship. We'll try to prove that's the wrong label. It won't be easy. But we'll do our best in Novi Sad, in front of our own fans, to show that this generation have something important to say at international level."

Serbia will face China, Mali and USA in the preliminary phase of the FIBA World Championship, which will tip-off on July 12th in Novi Sad.

Darko Nikolic
FIBA