Serbian basketball players failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo!

Serbian basketball players failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo!

The "Eagles" failed in the final of the qualification tournament in Belgrade, losing to Italy 102: 95.

Igor Kokoškov's team lagged behind from the beginning of the match against the shooter-minded rival.

Nervousness overcame the "eagles" who only at times, thanks to Andjusic's triples, managed to take control, but the weak defense and lack of jump-game prevented our team from dictating the rhythm.

Italy shocked the "Eagles" in Belgrade and left them without a "seen" place at the biggest sporting event.

Therefore, they will not be able to defend the silver medal won five years ago in Rio de Janeiro. Serbia already received 57 points in the first half, then fell behind by more than 20 points and deservedly was left without a visa for Tokyo.

In the middle of the third quarter, our team missed the opportunity to catch the connection, before the last minute, the "eagles" reduced it to -8, but Teodosić failed to hit a three-pointer that could bring drama to Pionir.

The most efficient player in the Serbian team, and the only one with enough courage to try to change something when nothing works, was Danilo Andjusic with 27 points. Young Filip Petrušev added 22, while Ognjen Dobrić scored 17. Those who were expected the most completely failed - the tired Vasilije Micic scored 8 points, the helpless Boban Marjanovic 7, and the completely indisposed Milos Teodosic and Nemanja Bjelica 5 points each.

On the other hand, this is Italy's first victory over Serbia in official matches. It was led by Niccolò Mannion with 24 points, 22 were scored by Achille Polonara, and 21 by Simone Fontekio. Without the injured Stefan Jović, Kokoškov played the same five on the floor as at the start of the match with Puerto Rico - Bjelica, Micić, Dobrić, Andjušić, Marjanović.

However, it didn't go the way we wanted, our basketball players allowed the Italians to enter under the hoop too easily, and when they didn't manage to score, they literally solved from a distance, shooting for three points. Rio de Janeiro will thus remain Serbia's only participation in the Olympics since gaining independence in 2006.

We missed the Beijing 2008 Games, then the London 2012 Games, and now we’re not going to Tokyo 2021.

It sounds paradoxical that the country of basketball has only one participation in the Olympics out of four attempts...