The coach of the Spanish women’s basketball team, Lucas Mondelo, expressed his “hopes” in his team in the preview of the first pre-Olympic friendly this Thursday against France (22:00 hours), in Malaga, and assured that he sees him with the possibility of “giving the surprise” in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The Spanish coach insisted on offering an optimistic message after being left out of the next pre-world tournament, falling to Russia in the match to define the fifth to eighth places in the Eurobasket played in Valencia, and stated that he sees the team with “confidence, enthusiasm and a lot of energy”.
The only option you have Spain to participate in the 2022 World Cup is to win the gold medal in
Tokyo, Olympic event in which USA is the great favorite, but that will be “a new opportunity” for the national team, he stressed Mondelo in statements provided by the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB).
After a week off after the European Championship, the Spanish players arrived in Malaga last Monday to prepare the first friendly for the Olympic Games, already with the reincorporation to the team of Tamara abalde Y Alba Torrens placeholder image, who were not in the Eurobasket for testing positive for COVID-19.
Precisely, the Mallorcan forward Alba Torrens placeholder image, who militates in the Yekaterinburg Russian, stressed that this situation “was difficult” for both, but also “for all”, although “that is already the past” and “the important thing” is that they are well, with which she was “very happy” with their return to the selection.
“The rest has been very important to recharge. In the European we did not have the results we wanted, it hurts us all, but we have gained perspective, we compete at the highest level against all the teams and now we want to get back on track” for the Games , said in statements to FEB Torrens, which stated that they arrive “with full confidence” in Tokyo.
After that parenthesis, the Spanish women’s team will play this Thursday against France his first friendly to prepare for the Olympic event at the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace in Málaga (22.00 hours), right after the match between the same male rivals (19.30).