The Preliminary Round of the U20 Division "B" European Championship held in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) is over. Eight teams already made it to quarterfinals led by prospects such as estonian Rain Veideman ('91) or danish Jonas Bergstedt ('91). But the real big name at the moment is Tornike Shengelia ('91). The 6'9'' georgian forward and his teammates ended first of group A with a 4-1 record, with the prospect averaging 30.4 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks. After some years playing in Valencia (ACB) youth teams last season signed in Belgium (Pepinster), where he had 6.5 points and 4.1 rebounds. Estonia has been the second team of group A qualifyied for next round, even they had the same record (3-2) as Poland and Romania. Good result for them, led by guard Rain Veideman ('91), who is averaging 19.0 points, 4.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds.

 

And group B? Denmark is still unbeaten (4-0) due to magic duo Bergstedt-Laerke. 6'11'' center Jonas Bergstedt ('91), who played in spanish fourth division last season, is scoring 23.0 points and pulling down 14.5 boards (putting 2.3 blocks also). Beside him former Findlay Prep guard Thomas Laerke ('91), playing at the same league as his teammate, is averaging 22.0 points, 9.3 boards and 2.5 assists. What team will play quarterfinals also? Bulgaria. Point-guard Stanislav Tsonkov ('91) is making a good job with 14.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while small-forward Pavel Hristov ('91) adds 13.3 points and 7.5 boards.

 

In group C Czech Republic and Portugal made it to quarterfinals after a 4-1 record. Czech kids -the favorites to promote to "A"- have a really interesting group of prospects, led by guard Tomas Vyoral ('92), with 13.8 points and 3.3 rebounds, and forward Ondrej Peterka ('91), with 12.8 and 5.4 boards. 7'1'' center Ondrej Balvin ('92), from Cajasol Sevilla (ACB), adds power inside the paint: 12.0 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks. Portuguese squad also earned one spot in the top-8 behind small-forward Carlos Ferreirinho ('91), who ended with 13.2 points and 4.6 rebounds. 5'10'' point-guard Miguel Cardoso ('93) adds 10.8 with 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

 

Finally in group D Belgium finished first with a 4-0 record behind shooting-guard Dennis Donkor ('91), who is scoring 17.3 points and grabbing 4.5 rebounds. Beside him 6'9'' forward Maarten Rademakers ('91) is averaging 14.5 points and 8.5 boards. The last team with a spot in next round is local team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who won 3 games and lost 1. Good achievement of hosts, led in the tournament by guard Dino Begagic ('92): 13.8 points and 2.3 assists. His teammate Miralem Halilovic ('91) adds 13.5 points and 7.8 rebounds.

 

Checking the stats we can find some players already knocked out from the fight. We attached some of them:

 

-Janos Eilingsfeld ('91, Hungary): 27.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 0.5 steals.

-Richard Grznar ('91, Slovak Republic): 26.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

-Haukur Palsson ('92, Iceland): 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals.

-Ryan Richards ('91, Great Britain): 21.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists.

-Vitali Liutych ('92, Belarus): 20.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist.

 

Photo: worldsport.ge