The Hungarian women's basketball team defeated the Czech team 62-61 in the quarterfinals of the European Championship in Ljubljana on Thursday, thus they can start next year in the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.

The Hungarians, who have already reached the Olympic qualifiers, will meet the winner of the Spanish-German battle in Saturday's semi-finals.

The team's best result so far was two silver medals: in Budapest in 1950, and six years later in Prague, the team was able to stand on the second step of the podium. The Hungarians won bronze medals in 1952 (Moscow), 1983 (Budapest), 1985 (Treviso), 1987 (Cádiz) and 1991 (Tel-Aviv). The last time they were in the top four was in 1997, when they took fourth place in the domestic environment – ​​in Pécs, Zalaegerszeg and the capital.

Result, quarterfinals:
Hungary-Czech Republic 62-61 (7-11, 22-11, 19-17, 14-22)
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scorers: Goree 17 , Dubei 10, Kányási 8, Varga 6, Kiss 5, Studer 5, Határ 5, Lelik 3, Ruff-Nagy 2, Aho 1, and Stoupalova 20, Andelova 13, Cechova 6, Paurova 5, Vyoralova 5, Zeithammerova 5, Brezinova 3, Hamzova 2, Holesinska 2

The team of national team captain Norbert Székely qualified directly for the quarterfinals in Ljubljana as the group leader, as they beat the Slovaks 89-67 in the D quartet, lost to the Turks 69-68, and then defeated the defending champions Serbia 81-75 on Sunday. The Czechs, European champions in 2005, had a bumpy road to the quarter-finals in Tel Aviv, as after outplaying the Italians 61-58, they suffered a devastating 84-41 defeat to the favorites Belgium, and finally the host Israel 61- They won second place in Group B by defeating them by 52. During Monday's playoff, captain Romana Ptackova's team beat the Greeks 79-76, after which they were able to board the plane to Slovenia.

The Hungarian and Czech teams were preparing for the third match in the history of the European Championships. The first battle was fought in 2001 in the group stage of the French tournament in Gravelines, then after extra time the opponent proved to be better 57-55, the current assistant coach Dalma Iványi scored five points. The Hungarians only had a chance to fight back in 2017, and moreover, from a Czech point of view, they did it on home ground in Királyvárad (Hradec Kralove). From that team, only Határ Bernadett remains as a newscaster, who contributed six points to the 74-70 success six years ago.

The fact that the naturalized Goree Cyesha missed the match against the Serbs due to a leg injury may have been a cause for concern for the Hungarians, although she did a full training session on Wednesday. After her serious knee injury last year - and her six-month absence - Határ Bernadett was not yet in 100% condition, she missed the last two days of practice due to a pain-relieving injection. However, the 208-centimetre center, who appeared in his fourth European Championship, played against the Czechs even though his knee was heavily bandaged.

The Slovenian organizers didn't advertise the women's European Championships very much even with the start of the final game, but inside the Stozice Arena, the surroundings became more spectacular: smoke machines, colored reflectors, a crane camera, and a running camera used in athletic sprint competitions were also put into operation. At the same time, the number of spectators did not increase significantly, about 600 people took their seats in the stands before the first quarter-final, one third of which were Hungarian, the other Czech, and the third were French fans preparing for the second match.

After a minute and a half of "groping" Natalie Stoupalova scored the first basket, the Hungarians scored first through Goree at 0-6. Team captain Debóra Dubé's triple equalized the score, but the national team still managed only seven points in the extremely nervous opening quarter. In the continuation, two triples by Alíz Varga brought back the momentum, Veronika Kányási was also accurate from a distance, so the Hungarians took the lead for the first time at 22-20. The next seven points were also scored by the Kisses, at the break the clock showed 29-22, Goree was the team's best at eight points.

After a change of half, the opponent had a four-minute short-circuit, during which time the Hungarian advantage increased to 15 points, and then at 40-24, the semi-finals were within reach. The role of the national team was spread out, eight people signed up on the scoreboard, and Goree had 15 points. Thanks to an eight-point Czech attack, the final period started at 48-39, Réka Lelik and Ágnes Studer triples pulled the group out of the hole. We managed to increase the difference to over ten points again, and then another wave of ups and downs followed, and at 54-49, Norbert Székely called for a timeout. This didn't help either, but Kányási finally scored at 54-53, and the score was 58-54 two minutes before the end. After Stoupalova's three-pointer (58-57) in the first half, Határ took a good penalty (60-57), then Stoupalova scored a double (60-59), but Kányás' penalties did not hit the target, and ten seconds before the end, the opponent took the lead thanks to Katerina Zeithammerova . In the Hungarians' last attack, Dubei made a confident two-pointer (62-61), and in the remaining three seconds, the opponent could no longer create a serious shooting position.

The Hungarians, who have already qualified for the Olympic qualifiers, will meet the winner of the Spanish-German battle in Saturday's semi-finals.

MTI

Photo: MTI/Tamás Kovács