Photo: FIBA

Poland has named 24 players to their preliminary roster for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The event begins on June 29 and ends on July 4.

The 24-man squad:

Aleksander BalcerowskiAdrian BoguckiAaron CelAleksander DziewaJakub Garbacz
Tomasz GieloKarol GruszeckiAdam HrycaniukJakub KarolakLukasz Kolenda
Lukasz KoszarekDamian KuligAndy MazurczakMichal MichalakIgor Milicic
 Dominik OlejniczakMarcel Ponitka Mateusz PonitkaAJ Slaughter Jeremy Sochan 
Michal Sokolowski Adam Waczynski Mathieu Wojciechowski Jaroslaw Zyskowski 

Head coach Mike Taylor named core players including Mateusz Ponitka, Aaron Cel, Adam Waczynski, Michal Sokolowski, AJ Slaughter, Karol Gruszecki and Damian Kulig.

The group also features several young players including 17-year-old rising star Jeremy Sochan, 20-year-old Aleksander Balcerowski, 21-year-old Adrian Bogucki and 18-year-old Igor Milicic.

Poland qualified for the OQT by finishing eighth at the FIBA World Cup 2019 and they are joined by Lithuania, Korea, Venezuela, Slovenia and Angola in their tournament.

Poland will take on Angola on June 29 and Slovenia on July 1.

If Poland finishes in the top two of Group B, they will advance to the Semi-Finals, with the top two teams also advancing from Group A (Lithuania, Korea and Venezuela).

Poland has their sights set on reaching the Olympics for the first time in 41 years.

“The Olympic Games are a dream for athletes in all disciplines,” said Taylor. “Our goal is to play this tournament for the first time since 1980. The fight for this is possible thanks to the excellent result during the last World Cup. We know it’s a huge challenge. We will start chasing our dream in Kaunas, hoping to play in Tokyo. As always, the large squad has many key experienced players as well as some younger players with great potential. I can’t wait to start preparations and come back to the dance floor this summer.”