Dusan Sakota will be looking to make up for lost time in November as he is included in the preliminary Greek national team squad for the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

Sakota enjoyed a successful period for Greece at junior level, winning a bronze medal at the 2003 FIBA U19 World Cup as well as being part of a strong under-20 team.

The 31-year-old though has not been seen in a national team vest since. He has the chance to end the 11-year drought when Greece travel to Leicester to face Great Britain on November 24.

“It’s a great honour to be part of the national team,” Sakota told FIBA. “Imagine how much bigger the pride is when we talk about the Greek national team.

“For me, I’d take it as vindication for all the effort I made to be in the national team in previous years. Personally, playing for the national team has been my primary goal for a long time. I’ve been close some years to making it to the team, but I haven’t managed to.

“No matter what the circumstances are, when you’re invited to offer your help in the national team, it means that you are doing something well,” Sakota continued. “It means that you fought a lot for that, and you earned it.”

Sakota hasn’t given up hope of playing for Greece and for good reason. The national team has cried out the past couple of summers for perimeter shooting. Kostas Sloukas hit 17 of 29 (58.6 percent) at Eurobasket 2017 but no other Greek player was a genuine threat from deep.

In the first year of the Basketball Champions League, Sakota hit a very respectable 32 of 79 (40.5 percent) from three-point and was named to the Second Team of the competition’s Star Lineup.

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR