The Serbia national under-17 team was defeated in its opening match of the FIBA World Championship by Australia, 88:66.
Serbia was not even a shadow of the team it was a year ago at this time. Back then, this same team, led by Nikola Kusturica, won the European Championship. By doing so, they secured qualification for the World Cup, but the “Young Eagles” immediately showed that things would be very difficult in it.
Australia, which is certainly a favorite for a high finish, secured a convincing victory. Defensively, the young “Boomers” were much better. They limited Serbia to just 32 percent shooting from the field, and an awful free-throw percentage did not help either. The “Young Eagles” made only 11 shots from 25 attempts.
For Australia, Jahya Basaran scored 15 points, John Arjang added 12, Andrew Watten also had 12, and Luke Paul 11. Nikola Kusturica, who recently became a junior European champion with Barcelona, scored 17 points, while Matija Lukić added 16.
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Serbia plays Venezuela on Sunday at 11 a.m. in Istanbul, followed by a match against Ivory Coast on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. In those matches, Serbia will certainly be the favorite, but it will advance to the next round regardless.
The competition system for youth categories is such that all teams from the group stage advance and play in the round of 16. Serbia crosses into Group C, which includes New Zealand, Slovenia, Puerto Rico, and Turkey.
It should not be surprising that Serbia, despite this convincing and unpleasant defeat, can still go far. Losses and major mistakes are common at this age, but it is also not unusual for them to be corrected. At the previous EuroBasket, Serbia finished first, for example, despite a group-stage loss to Spain.
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Source: SportKlub N1 Foto: ATA