The Israel Women’s National Team will face Slovakia and Serbia in a series of exhibition games in Slovakia, where it will play two games against the host nation as well as two additional games against Serbia before returning home.

Israel will compete in Division A of the European Championship, which will be held in Klaipėda and will face Spain, Croatia and host nation Lithuania in the preliminary stage while the tournament begins on July 4.

In addition, the coaching staff selected the 12 players who will travel for the exhibition games and for the European Championship.

Full Roster:
Maya Elmaliah, Lee Teichman, Ayala Oren, Maayan Cohen, Gal Raviv, Neta Meisher, Ariel Solomon, May Baiko, Noa Magid, Maya Zilbershlag, Naomi Cohen-Mintz and Tehila Cohen.

Coaching and Support Staff:
• Head Coach: Tal Natan
• Assistant Coach: Omri Tzirlin
• Scouting: Shani Friedman
• Strength & Conditioning Coach: Kenant Haila
• Physiotherapist: Michal Neuburger Nissim
• Team Manager: Noa Rekanti

Head Coach Tal Natan, “First of all, I am very excited to once again lead the Under-20 national team heading into the European Championship. I would like to thank the leaders of the Basketball Association and the professional committee as I don’t take this opportunity for granted.

“We are heading into four important exhibition games against Slovakia and Serbia that will give an initial indication of the work that had been done during our training camp. Our country is going through challenging times from a security perspective. The players understand the value of representing the emblem, the flag, and our Israeli identity and we will bring that Israeli passion and spirit into everything we do.”

On the continuity of the roster from last summer, “Whenever a coach works with the same players over several years, the chemistry improves and the players become familiar with all the little details and methods. This team has an exceptionally good group of players—high-quality young women. I trust every one of them and greatly appreciate them.”

On Gal Raviv’s quality and her role this summer, “Gal Raviv is truly a special player, dominant and already experienced at both the European Championship and the World Championship level. The most important thing about Gal is that she makes the players around her better and they support one another and grow together. We are a very united and team-oriented squad and only as a team can we achieve success—and the players understand that. At the European Championship, we will face some of Europe’s top national teams, such as Germany, Spain, Italy and Hungary. We will need to deliver as a team.”