A new edition of the U-16 Iscar Tournament, held in Spain, will be played from Sunday to Wednesday. Seven national teams (Russia, Italy, Montenegro, Turkey, Poland, Portugal and Spain) and spanish Castilla-Leon region selection will take part in the event, with some interesting names competing. Eurohopes staff will travel to Iscar to update you. Let's take a look to the teams, with prospects like spanish Agustí Sans ('95), turkish Metecan Birsen ('95) -at the pic- and polish Damian Jeszke ('95).
-Turkey: Difficult goal for this generation if they want to make the same as the U-16 NT did last summer in the Division "A" EC at Bar (Montenegro), earning the bronze medal. Without Tayfun Erulku ('94) and Burak Haciismail ('94) the turkish squad will give the reins to Kenan Sipahi ('95) and Metecan Birsen ('95). In Iscar -coached by Taner Günay- the point-guard won't go because he plays for Tofas Bursa in first division, so Birsen is the man. Beside him we must pay attention to 1.90 guard Dogukan Sanli ('95), 2.01 power-forward Mehmet Sanli ('95) and 2.05 center Ayberk Güleryüz ('95).
-Poland: Power-forward Damian Jeszke ('95) showed good things in Bar (5.3 points and 3.0 rebounds). We will follow him Iscar. 1993 polish generation is amazing. This tournament will be a good key to see what's going on with the youngsters. In the roster the tallest player is one year younger: Filip Pruefer ('96). They finished 11th in the Division "A" EC.
-Montenegro: They fought for a medal in their home country (Bar), but ended eighth with a good group of prospects (Ivanovic, Pajovic, Perovic). Luka Durovic ('95), the youngest player there, will be in Iscar. Good news. Others to follow? 1.97 small-forward Stefan Ljubenkovic ('95), 2.00 center Predrag Mijatovic ('95) and 2.05 center Milovan Draskovic ('95).
-Italy: The 1994 generation with Candussi & Co. left the team ending 9th in Bar. In Iscar there is a group of interesting prospects coached by Antonio Bocchino. Federico di Prampero ('95), from Benetton Treviso, Giuseppe Nicolò Basile ('95), from Fortitudo Bologna, and Vittorio Nobile ('95), from Codroipo, some interesting names in the tournament.
-Russia: A couple of players of Iscar took part in the seventh final position at Bar, and both being important and playing minutes. 1.85 point-guard Vasily Martynov ('95) had 7.9 points and 1.4 steals, while 1.98 small-forward Pavel Sizov ('95) tallied 7.1 with 4.2 boards. Four prospects are over 2.04: Evgeny Buyvolov ('95, 2.06), Rostislav Cherkashin ('95, 2.04), Konstantin Kulikov ('95, 2.05) and Artem Sokolov ('95, 2.05). Russians are coached by Alexey Zhukov.
-Portugal: Portuguese squad played last Division "B" EC in Tallinn (Estonia), finishing 10th. They arrive to Iscar with only one player from there: 1.98 power-forward Isaias Insaly ('95). The prospects coached by Augusto Araujo aren't tall, with Insaly as their big element.
-Spain: Hosts ended fourth in Bar with DKV Joventut guard Agusti Sans ('95) -who will be in Iscar- scoring 7.1 points in 21 minutes. What players we must follow in the tournament? Power-forward Javier de la Blanca ('95) and guard Alberto Martin ('95), both from Real Madrid, and small-forward Adrià Cantenys ('95), from FC Barcelona.
Finally Castilla-León Region team is basiclly built by players from CB Valladolid.
Photo: FIBA Europe / Marko Metlas
