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Youth international basketball news round-up from the U20 European ChampionshipsMonday, 14th July was a rest day for the youth international basketball players in both U20 European women championships.In Division A the second phase of the competition will start today (15 July) with the first round games in the qualification round.Twelve teams have been split into two groups of six teams. The remaining four teams play in the relegation group.
Format of qualification roundThe top three teams from Group A and B make up Group E, while the top three teams from Group C and D make up Group F. The teams from one group will now play the teams from the other group over the next three days with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the semi-final. Each team takes points acquired from the first round into this round of games. The only results removed are those against the teams now in the relegation round. In Group E all the teams lost a game during the first round against opponents still in the competition. Hence all the teams have started the qualification round with 3 points (one win and one loss). Turkey leads the group based on point average. The teams in Group E in order of standings are: Turkey, Serbia, France, Latvia, Czech Republic and Italy. In Group F Spain and Russia (team picture above) are still undefeated and go into the qualification with maximum points (4 points) while Montenegro and Lithuania are at the bottom with two points. The teams in Group F in order of standings are: Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Belarus, Montenegro and Lithuania. News from FIBA Europe U20 Women Division BWith only ten teams participating, the format of this competition is different to Division A. There are two groups of five teams, with the top four teams from each group qualifying for the quarter-final knock-out stage. The bottom two teams will play each other twice in a 9th-place classification round with the winner determined on aggregate score. Great Britain, Israel and Portugal are the only teams without a victory so far. Defeat for any teams today will condemn them to the 9th place match. Great Britain's U20 preparation included a visit to France for a two-match series against Mali. Mali won both matches (68-37) and (58-43). Great Britain finished 4th in 2007 and won the bronze medal last season and came into this year's competition with high expectation. Yet Great Britain were beaten by Romania in the opening game (69-61) and then suffered a final period collapse against Ireland (25-6) to lose (78-66). Great Britain can not afford to lose any more games if they want to stay in the competition. Great Britain play Hungary in the first match from Group A today. If they lose, all the other teams will have qualified for the next round. However if they beat Hungary today then the group becomes wide open. Ireland play their last group game against Romania, while Slovak Republic have a second rest day. Israel, another team in trouble, played in Division A last season, have also suffered two reversals. They lost to the hosts Poland (86-59) in their opening game. Then they fell to The Netherlands (61-47). Israel have had two days off and will be fresh for the winner-take-all match against Portugal.
Frida Elderbrink, who plays for Sweden, will be joining Tarbes next season in the LFB. She is currently leading the scoring with 21 points per game. Sweden take on The Netherlands in the other Group B match today. Youth international basketball news from the European Championship Women U20 Basketball Day 1 Youth international basketball news from the U20 European Championship Women Division A - Day 2 Youth international basketball news from the U20 European Championship Women Division A - Day 3 Return from Youth International Basketball U20 Day 2 to "What's New" page Youth International Basketball picture credit:
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Portugal finished 4th last season but have lost all three games so far and just have one game left. The Netherlands, Poland and Sweden have already qualified for the quarter-final.
