Our girls will play the first from two last preparatory games before upcoming U20 European Championship Women 2012 on Wednesday afternoon. Opponents of Slovak basketball NT coached by Maroš Kováčik - Juraj Suja are gonna be basketball players from Sweden, who also qualified for the championship of "The old continent" held from 16. to 26. August 2012 in Hungarian city of Debrecen.

Schedule of preparatory games of Slovak national U20 basketball women’s team before U20 European Championship Women 2012 :

8th August 2012 (Wednesday): Slovakia – Sweden (6 pm., Infiniti aréna, Košice)

9th August 2012 (Thursday): Slovakia – Sweden (6 pm., Infiniti aréna, Košice)

"After three games we played in Czech Republic against home team last weekend we decided the names for championship roster. We had to cross out two names and those games decided who will not travel with us for championship", informed before the first duel against Sweden coach Maroš Kováčik.

Into "double-rehearsal" will Slovaks enter with roster which should appear in Debrecen. It means that coaches will see for the first time in action duo from Good Angels Košice Barbora Bálintová – Žofia Hruščáková, because they played for Slovak junior team on U18 European Championship Women 2012 in Bucharest.

"On the contrary we said farewell to couple Martina Matejčíková – Denisa Domiterová. We observed in detail also performances of our junior "colleagues", but we didnt consider to call another player, because we had to enforce the posts where Žofia Hruščáková and Barbora Bálintová play," said Maroš Kováčik.

Slovak roster for U20 European Championship Women 2012 announced:

point guards: Petra Bartánusová (club: Dannax Sport Košice/Piešťanské čajky, year of birth: 1992, height: 173), Barbora Bálintová (Dannax Sport/Good Angels Košice, 1994/175), Gabriela Nagyová (Dannax Sport Košice/ŠKBD Sp. Nová Ves, 1992/174)

forwards: Martina Kiššová (Dannax Sport/Good Angels Košice, 1993/185), Angelika Oravcová (Dannax Sport Košice/ŠBK Šamorín, 1992/175), Marta Páleníková (Frisco Brno/Piešťanské čajky, 1992/182), Zuzana Ivančáková (ŽBK Whirlpool Poprad, 1993/178)

centers: Beáta Janoščíková (Dannax Sport/Good Angels Košice, 1993/197), Marianna Draganovská (Dannax Sport Košice, 1993/190), Martina Letková (Karlove Vary/ŠKBD Sp. Nová Ves, 1992/188), Nikoleta Feketeová (ŠBK Šamorín, 1993/185), Žofia Hruščáková (Dannax Sport/Good Angels Košice, 1995/190)

First duel against young female Northerners will be held in Infiniti aréna Košice (6 pm.). On the same place and at the same time, but the following day (9th August 2012) will our girls play the second game against the selection of "Tre kronor" (Three Crowns, a national emblem of Sweden). After few days of rest, our girls will undergo last trainings before the championship in Košice.

"We have to work on aggressiveness in defense and on defensive rebounds. We don’t have any more space for experiments. Against Sweden we want to simulate first game which we are playing at the beginning of tournament, so we’ll enter the court with maximum concentration and employment," concluded head coach of our team Maroš Kováčik.

Fixtures of Slovak NT in GROUP D of U20 European Championship Women 2012 in Debrecen:

16th August 2012 (Thursday): SLOVAKIA - Serbia (6. 15 pm.)

17th August 2012 (Friday): Russia - SLOVAKIA (4 pm.)

18th August 2012 (Saturday): SLOVAKIA – Great Britain (1. 45 pm.)