Evgeniy MURZIN: “Emphasis will be placed on the first match in Serbia”

Next week, the Ukraine women’s national team will start the EuroBasket 2025 qualifying tournament.

The Ukrainians will play their first qualifying match against the Serbian national team in Belgrade on November 9 (kick-off at 19:00), and will host Portugal at the Riga Olympic Center on November 12 (18:00).

National team head coach Evgeny Murzin talked about the preparations for the matches.

– You invited 12 players to the training camp before the Serbia and Portugal matches. How satisfied are you with the final list?

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t gather everyone together as we planned. For example, Olesya Malashenko misses the last matches for the club due to injury, Olga Yatskovets has personal problems, other girls also have microtraumas and their own problems. But it is what it is. We wanted to invite more players to the training camp and watch young basketball players. Hopefully we can organize a training camp in the summer and attend a tournament to watch them. But if I called them now, I either wouldn’t pay much attention to them, or it wouldn’t be good for the main players’ preparations. Therefore, they decided to call up only 12 players.

There aren’t many new names; They either played for the national team under the previous coach or played for the 3×3 national team. I wanted to take girls who had experience playing in the national team to these two matches. We decided to look at Mitina and Voloshina, I haven’t seen them for a long time, but what I saw in Kazakhstan made a pleasant impression on me.

– One of the fully-fledged newcomers to the national team is 19-year-old center Evgenia Putra.

– Yes, I liked Evgenia Putra in the youth team this summer, also the team started this season well, so they invited her to the training camp. I want to see how it will integrate into adult basketball.

– Which position in the national team worries you the most in this training camp?

– There was a problem in the first issue and it still continues. Daria Dubnyuk will be our main choice for this position, especially since she changed clubs and started playing for a long time, which has benefited her in terms of confidence.

I was confident in Victoria Shmatova, I wanted to try Oksana Fastova, who returned to the Ukrainian Super League, but the girls were injured. Mitina or Voloshina will take on the task of helping Dubnyuk somewhere.

In general, I would like to point out that many of our girls are playing at a good level this season, playing a lot, getting time, which is positive for the team.

– Alina Yagupova changed teams in the summer. How do you evaluate her readiness for the national team matches (the conversation took place before Alina was injured – note from Sport.ua)?

– Alina is a high-level professional, it is a pleasure to work with her, she always comes to the national team and gives her maximum in national team matches. Of course, I also watched his matches in the new season, his roles in the new team have changed a little, he is more relaxed, he is playing at a high level.

– Actually, there is very little time left until the first match in Serbia. How is the work planned?

– We are going to Riga for a short training camp on November 5th. Our team will go to Serbia on November 8th and we will play the first qualifying match on the 9th. The next day, the team will return to Riga where they will continue their preparations for the match against the Portuguese team.

– How can the national team achieve successful results in these matches?

– With dedication, of course. The focus now will be on the first match in Serbia. They are rejuvenating their team so we can take our chances. We must defend well and exhibit team attack. We will build on this.

Let us also remind you that the Ukraine national team will compete in the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers in Group G, which also includes the Serbia, Portugal and North Macedonia national teams. To determine that all matches in the group will be taken into account, the 8 group winners will qualify for EuroBasket 2025 and the best 4 in the qualifiers will take the second place.