By Marti Artigas

 

They have won the last two editions of the U16 European Championship. In 2010, in Bar (Montenegro), they crashed Lithuania in the big final (80-52), with Dario Saric ('94) collecting a huge triple-double (30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, even 12 turnovers). One summer later they also earned the gold, in this case in Pardubice (Czech Republic) beating hosts (57-67) behind Mario Hezonja ('95): 21 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals. Today starts a new edition of the event, with croatians trying to become the second team winning three championships in a row after former Yugoslavia, making it twice. And Marko Arapovic ('96), current #1 of his generation in Eurohopes, will be one of the big prospects to follow. We talked with him after the battle.

 

-Croatia has won last two titles. How do you face the event?
Yes. We have won two last titles and we are very proud of it. We're going to face the event as good as we can and our goal is nothing less than winning the gold.

 

-How do you see the other teams? Who are the favorites from your point of view?
Well, we have a huge respect to all the teams but I think it's not important how they play. Only thing that is important is to get our game to perfection. We must not have many turnovers and we have to score easy buckets and free throws. But the main key is our defense. It's all about defense.

 

-You played the U17 WC, taking the bronze medal, and now the U16 EC. A lot of work this summer for you.
Yes, it is a pretty busy summer but it's the summer I chose and the kind of summer I love. Only hard work can save and improve the talented game this team has.

 

-What is your valoration of your performance in Kaunas?
I'm really satisfied with the way I played the U17 championship. There were good games and bad games. Maybe I oscilated a bit too much, but the only important thing is that we took the bronze medal.

 

-Today Croatia will start the competition at 16h15 against Italy.

 

Twitter of the author: @marti_artigas

 

Photo: FIBA.COM