Russia welcome back Mozgov but lose Fridzon 22 august 2016
FIBA Europe
With less than two weeks remaining until the curtain rises on the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers, Russia head coach Sergey Bazarevich barely had time to rejoice at star center Timofey Mozgov’s injury turning out to be not serious, before receiving news that he might have to modify his game plans anyway because of the potential absence of another key player.
Vitaly Fridzon has sustained a fracture in his elbow and while his club, CSKA Moscow, announced that he will follow conservative treatment and will not undergo surgery, it is doubtful that the veteran sharp-shooting swingman will be able to return to action in time for the Qualifiers.
Fridzon has been in excellent form in Russia’s warm-up games this summer and collected a team-high 19 points in their latest friendly, a win over Georgia in the final of the Tbilisi City Hall Cup on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Fridzon had led Russia in scoring at last September’s FIBA EuroBasket 2015, with 15 points per contest. His shooting prowess had established him as one of the national team’s main offensive options in every major tournament since FIBA EuroBasket 2011.
While Fridzon was of course unable to travel on Thursday with the rest of the team to Germany, where Russia will take part in a friendly tournament that will give them the chance to play against Poland, Finland and the hosts, Timofey Mozgov boarded the plane and will be at the disposal of coach Bazarevich for the Germany tournament and, crucially, the upcoming Qualifiers.
Mozgov had picked up a groin injury in the opening game of the Tbilisi City Hall Cup and sat out the next two encounters of the warm-up tournament as he underwent an MRI scan. The results did not reveal any important damage and after the Los Angeles Lakers center was re-evaluated on Thursday, the Russian medical staff cleared him to return to practice.
Russia travel to Germany with 14 players as in addition to Fridzon youngster Mikhail Kulagin also stayed back in Moscow because of injury, albeit in his case a minor one, while coach Bazarevich has decided to cut Petr Gubanov from the preliminary squad. Star guard Aleksey Shved, who had sat out the friendly against Georgia as Bazerevich opted to rest him has been included and is expected to play normally in Germany.
The Russians were drawn in Group C of the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers, the only one which is made up of three participants, and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Sweden in a campaign that tips off 31 August.
Fridzon has been in excellent form in Russia’s warm-up games this summer and collected a team-high 19 points in their latest friendly, a win over Georgia in the final of the Tbilisi City Hall Cup on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Fridzon had led Russia in scoring at last September’s FIBA EuroBasket 2015, with 15 points per contest. His shooting prowess had established him as one of the national team’s main offensive options in every major tournament since FIBA EuroBasket 2011.
While Fridzon was of course unable to travel on Thursday with the rest of the team to Germany, where Russia will take part in a friendly tournament that will give them the chance to play against Poland, Finland and the hosts, Timofey Mozgov boarded the plane and will be at the disposal of coach Bazarevich for the Germany tournament and, crucially, the upcoming Qualifiers.
Mozgov had picked up a groin injury in the opening game of the Tbilisi City Hall Cup and sat out the next two encounters of the warm-up tournament as he underwent an MRI scan. The results did not reveal any important damage and after the Los Angeles Lakers center was re-evaluated on Thursday, the Russian medical staff cleared him to return to practice.
Russia travel to Germany with 14 players as in addition to Fridzon youngster Mikhail Kulagin also stayed back in Moscow because of injury, albeit in his case a minor one, while coach Bazarevich has decided to cut Petr Gubanov from the preliminary squad. Star guard Aleksey Shved, who had sat out the friendly against Georgia as Bazerevich opted to rest him has been included and is expected to play normally in Germany.
The Russians were drawn in Group C of the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers, the only one which is made up of three participants, and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Sweden in a campaign that tips off 31 August.
Source
http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_m,OBuNNdH5IohEwfsOy0c1.art...
