At the end of August, the men's National team of Ukraine will play first matches of the second group round of qualification for the 2023 World Cup, where they will face the teams of Italy (August 24) and Iceland (August 27).

Already tomorrow, on July 28, the training session of the National team will begin. The coaching staff, led by Ainars Bagatskis, decided on the list of players who will prepare for the upcoming matches. The expanded team included 15 basketball players. There are four Prometey players among them: Denys Lukashov, Illia Sydorov, Issuf Sanon and Ivan Tkachenko.

The head coach of the national team commented on the future preparation for important matches:

"We will have three weeks before the first official game and there will be almost no intensive training - the team will immediately start contact work. I do hope that the players will be physically ready for this. But we need time for the guys to get to know each other, as there will be new basketball players compared to the July’s games. These players, in terms of status and playing level, correspond to the level of the Ukrainian national team. We have to work as one, play for each other, and that takes time. Sometimes even it should be not only training, but also just the time that the guys could spend together outside the court. This is all important to become a Team," said Ainars Bagatskis.

Let us remind you that due to russia's military invasion of Ukraine, our National teams are forced to play home matches abroad. On August 24 — Independence Day of Ukraine — the national team will play a home match against Italy in Riga, Latvia.