PRAGUE (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - The vast Belgrade Arena, the venue of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) that tips off Monday in the Serbian capital, has an undeniable awe-inspiring effect on any person who simply steps in the building before or during a big game.

Hosts Serbia certainly hope that the capacity crowd will give their national team a lift over any opponent in next week's tournament, although playing for a spot in the Olympic Games in this kind of sizzling-hot atmosphere, even with the crowd against you, is precisely the kind of thrilling experience most top players dream of when pulling on their national team jersey.

One of the great players who will step out in Belgrade Arena next week and certainly the one who relishes the occasion more than anybody not in a Serbian jersey, is Czech Republic star Jan Vesely.

“I am looking forward to playing there so much, I feel at home there and I expect us to have support [from Serbian fans],” the 26-year-old Czech forward/center said in an interview with Mlada Fronta Dnes daily.

Vesely signed for Partizan when he was 18, spent three crucial formative years under renowned coach Dusko Vujosevic, speaks fluent Serbian and has developed strong personal ties with Serbia, which he admits that he considers to be his second country.

The Czech Republic face Latvia and Japan in Group B while Serbia go up against Angola and Puerto Rico in Group A, so in Vesely's ideal scenario Czechs and Serbians would clash in the game which will determine who gets the ticket to Rio 2016.

“I've talked about it with my Serbian team-mates at Fenerbahce [Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Kalinic] and we said we would like to meet in the final,” he said. “I hope it turns out that way and there is no doubt it will be a sold-out game and a unique atmosphere in the arena.”

The high-flying Vesely however knows how to keep both feet firmly in the ground and acknowledges that highly-demanding task awaits the Czechs in their first ever OQT.

“I don't want to speak about qualifying to the Olympics, because that goal is still far away,” Vesely said. “Just being there (in the OQT) is already a big success for us, we can only hope to do our best and see what comes out of it.”

The big man certainly hit the ground running the moment as he played his first warm-up game with the Czech Republic on Tuesday night and poured in 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half to propel them to an 87-74 win over Tunisia.

“We played terrible in the first quarter but that was because we all came together for the first time on Tuesday morning,” Vesely said. “But we've been playing together for a long time, so it was only a matter of time before the team finds itself again.”

FIBA