Spain’s Prime Minister lauds basketball team after FIBA EuroBasket triumph
The Spanish like to do things their own way and one thing that the world knows about them is that they like to celebrate. The country which is at the pinnacle of world sports, be it tennis, football or hockey, had another reason
to celebrate this past Sunday, when their basketball team won the European Basketball Championship held in Lithuania after routing France in the final of the competition.
It was the second consecutive EuroBasket crown for Spain after they had also won the previous edition of the event. Spain had been favourites for the tournament before it began and they did not disappoint; sweeping all before them
on their way to the title.
The current Spanish basketball team is considered one of the strongest in the Nation’s history, with many established players in the NBA. These include two-time NBA World Champion Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers and Serge Ibaka
of the Oklahoma City thunder.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero welcomed home the troops and branded them as “legends” for their impressive accomplishments over the last half decade.
“I have to congratulate all of the players who contributed to this fantastic playing style and the triumphs that this generation has harvested which, as you must know by now, makes you legends to Spaniards and legends to basketball,”
Zapatero said.
Spain’s basketball team has been supremely dominant not only the European scene, but in the world over the last few years. Apart from their back to back wins in the EuroBasket tournament, the Spaniards have a few other feathers
in their cap as well.
These include a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when they narrowly lost out to the United States. They also won the gold medal at the Basketball World Championship in 2006. Premier Zapatero hailed the side for their
many conquests, and compared them to the current Spanish football team.
The Spanish football side is also the current European Champions as well as World Champions, but Zapatero was adamant that the basketball side were not inferior to them.
“We’re champions in many different disciplines,” Zapatero said. “But, discounting the national football team which has just started its brilliant run, I think there is no other team in Spanish sport history that has shone as long
as you have.”
The most impressive player for the basketball side in the European Championship was none other than Juan Carlos Navarro. Navarro was an unstoppable offensive force throughout the tournament and was named as the MVP of EuroBasket
for his many exploits.
Also impressive were young guns Marc Gasol and Ricky Rubio. Marc is the younger brother of Pau Gasol and established himself as the centre of choice for Spain and the Memphis Grizzlies this year. Ricky Rubio is a young point guard,
already a Spanish league winner and signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer.
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