Swede Amanda Zahui Bazoukou ready for next level

REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) - Sweden's Amanda Zahui Bazoukou has been playing above her age group for years but the 18-year-old center is chomping at the bit to take her game to the next level - and at the same time help make Sweden a top women's basketball nation.

Zahui burst onto the international scene in 2007 when she averaged a double-double (12.4 points and 12.1 rebounds) at the U16 European Championship - as a 13-year-old. Two more summers of playing U16 Euros followed before she advanced to the U18 level in 2010 as a 16-year-old and averaged 15.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.7 blocks per game.

And last season, Zahui repeated the U18 level - still only as 17-year-old - and came within one win of giving Sweden its third U18 bronze medal in the past six years.

The St. Mikael native is part of an enormously talented group of young players emerging from Sweden, which started in earnest with the 1988 generation and the Eldebrink twins Frida and Eli who have both since advanced to Czech Euroleague Women side USK Prague.

The 1989-born Louice Halvarsson already has two years of Euroleague Women experience behind her. While the star of the 1992 generation Farhiya Abdi has excelled in her first season out of Sweden, finding a major role with Euroleague Women club Frisco Sika Brno.

But that group is just a sampling of the talent Sweden is producing - one of the best being the 6-foot-3 Zahui.

"I believe that we inspire each other when somebody does something good. We want to do the same thing and even more," Zahui told Eye on the Future.
"A couple of years ago, nobody thought that Sweden would do good in Europe and that has motivated us to become better and show people and the rest of Europe/the world that we can play basketball."

Zahui, who will turn 19 in September, is spending her third season with Swedish club Telge, which is essentially a gathering of young Swedish talents all in one club as she plays with 1991-born Cleopatra Forsman-Goga and the strong 1992 duo of Binta Drammeh and Salome Kabengano among others.

"It's really fun playing with all of the other top youth players because everybody in the team wants to get better all the time and develop each other. This team is a team that never backs down and always wants to win so it's the best team I could play

David Hein

FIBA

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