The Israel Under-20 National Team will begin European Championship play this coming Saturday as Head coach Tal Natan selected his squad of 12 players from those who participated in the side’s recent training camp. The young blue-and-white will depart for Klaipeda, Lithuania on Wednesday and will look to continue their fine play after winning their last two exhibition games at a warmup tournament in Slovakia.

In the first game, Israel narrowly fell 64-63 to Slovakia despite an outstanding performance by Gal Raviv, who scored 34 points. In the second game against Slovakia, the team looked much better and earned an impressive 79-58 victory. Against Serbia, Israel recorded an 88-83 win, led by Maayan Cohen with 24 points.

Tal Natan commented on the preparation tournament and the upcoming championship, “We’re starting to feel the excitement ahead of the European Championship. We returned from the preparation games against Slovakia and Serbia having learned a great deal. We tried different lineups in every game and introduced several tactical elements to add another defensive dimension and new offensive ideas.

“This is a demanding tournament, and it’s very important to move on quickly from one game and immediately prepare for the next. The team that can do that has a chance to succeed. We have tough, quality opponents in our group, but as we showed against France in the previous campaign, we also have something to offer and something to say. I trust the players and the staff, and I’m confident that each of them will give everything for the national team.

“The State of Israel has gone through difficult years recently, and there has hardly been a moment of calm. A victory for Israel’s national team is always a positive answer to adversity and means a great deal. We will always compete with pride and do our best to win every game. It won’t be easy, but we’ve proven over the past six years with the U20 national team that we’re capable of achieving anything.”

The FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship will be held in Lithuania and will begin on July 4 and the Israel U20 Team has been drawn into Group A alongside Spain, Croatia and the host nation Lithuania.

Roster
Maya Elmalich, Lee Teichman, Ayala Oren, Maayan Cohen, Gal Raviv, Neta Meysher, Ariel Solomon, May Baiko, Noa Meged, Maya Zilbershlag, Naomi Cohen Mintz, Tehila Cohen.