The Danish basketball team needs a miracle tonight in Vilnius against Lithuania with a place in next year’s EuroBasket, the square held European championship, up to the winner.
After a 65-88 defeat in the hands of the group leaders Belgium on Saturday, which was also played in the Lithuanian capital, Denmark must now repeat its heroism in November, when it came out triumphant with a score of 80-76.
And they have to do it without their star players Iffe Lundberg and Darko Jukic, who broke their hand in training last week.
Up against the mighty lions of Lithuania
Denmark may have a population twice the size of its neighbor to the Baltic Sea, but in basketball the countries are leagues apart.
Basketball is Lithuania’s favorite sport, and despite the Soviet era, they have won three EuroBaskets, which in football terms makes it the Uruguay of world basketball.
In fact, during the Soviet era, its players used to dominate the site and played a major role when the Soviet Union beat the United States at the 1972 Olympics – the first time Stars and Stripes (previously with a 63-0 record) had ever failed. to land gold.
On the verge of greatness
When Denmark won in November, national coach Erez Bittman called it “the biggest Danish victory in history”.
Should Denmark fail, they will lead their defeat to the initial match against the Czech Republic, which will probably end up at the bottom of the four-team group, if they do not beat Belgium tonight.
It is especially frustrating, as the three best in four of the other seven groups qualify, but in Denmark’s only top two, as the Czechs are already safe in one of the 24 places with permission to be one of the four co-hosts.
Denmark has only ever participated in three EuroBaskets – 1951, 1953 and 1955 – with their best finish, 14th, coming on their debut.
Denmark wins 17th European title for mixed badminton championship
Denmark has retained the European Championship for mixed teams in badminton, a two-year tournament that it has now won 17 times. Competed in Finland this year, Denmark won the best of five finals 3-0 against France thanks to Viktor Axelsen, the current number two in the world who won men’s singles, and Mia Blichfeldt won the women – both in equal sets. Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen then won the men’s doubles to ensure that Denmark did not lose a single set – in stark contrast to the semis, where Denmark needed to dig deep to see Germany 3-2.
Say it’s not true, Lord! Bendtner unofficially retires from football
Nicklas Bendtner, 33, had expected to sign a deal in China before the corona virus took hold and there could have been some fans hoping ‘The Lord’ would continue a professional career that stopped when he played his last game for FC Copenhagen in 2019 But now he has confirmed that he “waves ‘a little goodbye’ to football” in a new documentary called ‘Bendtner & Philine’, reports BT. Together with his girlfriend Philine Roepstorff, he has been busy cutting a career in reality television. However, Bendtner has previously stated that he intends to pursue a career in coaching.
Call me ‘melinite’ Musah! Kojo darkens Dynamit’s mark at 60 meters
Kojo Musah, 24, will participate next month in the 60 meters at the Indoor European Championships as the new Danish record holder. In qualifying, he overshadowed Kristoffer ‘Dynamit’ Haris’ previous grade of 6.62 and shaved a hundredth of a second off the time, and he will now be hoping to reach the final in Poland. Musah, whose father is Ghanaian, has a personal record of 10.29 in the 100 meters – 0.03 shy of the Danish record in Haris.
Serie A medals win in the bag, but for which national team legend?
It looks more and more likely that a Dane will pick up a Serie A winning medal, as the clubs Christian Eriksen and Simon Kjær, Inter and AC Milan are currently in first and second place in the table, with nine and five points free for the rest of the package. The pair met at the San Siro yesterday, where Inter came triumphantly 3-0. For a long time, Eriksen was out of favor with Inter coach Antonio Conte, but he has become a solid starter over the last month thanks to some impressive performances. Should one of the Milan clubs take the title, it will be the first time in ten seasons that Juventus have not been able to win. La Vecchia Signora are currently beating Inter by 11 points in the sixth.
Denmark follows the audience, but no one jumps in the queue!
Denmark has confirmed that they will vaccinate all its athletes participating in this year’s Olympics in Tokyo. However, none of the 150 athletes and 200 officials jump in the queue, as the entire country must be vaccinated by June 27 – almost four weeks before the Olympics, which start on July 23. The International Olympic Committee confirmed in January that a vaccination would not be mandatory to compete in the game. Denmark joins a growing list of committed countries, including Israel, Serbia, Hungary, India, The Philippines, Lithuania, Greece and Belgium.
Source: The Nordic Page