Debrecen was a great location for the tournament, with the main hall just downstairs and around the corner from the very hotel that we were staying in, while the second hall was only 10 minutes walk away. Hungary welcomed us well and it was great to see all the funding and support that sporting activities were receiving.
On the court, Russia obliterated all-comers. Vadeeva and Raisa Musina, both already established in the national team (as I write this in 2018, the year they were both drafted by the WNBA, as was Reisingerova funnily enough), were far too strong and talented for their opponents to contend with, and they were well supported by a solid squad too.
They crushed the Czechs in the final, and I was fortunate to get a few minutes with Steve Costalas, who was great to chat and banter with throughout the tournament anyway, and he helped me put together a piece about the strong Russian program. I also got a few words with Raia Musina's older sister Valeriya for the piece - it was great to chat to her, she was very nice.
Vadeeva and Musina were joined on the All-Tournament team by Reisingerova and Czech playmaker Adela Neubauerova, who had a great tournament and came across as such a natural baller. Spanish wing Iris Junio rounded out the squad. The video piece for the team included my end-of-tournament interview with Vadeeva, where I really should have said "whoa whoa whoa, stop, please look at me (off-camera) rather than straight into the camera" - it looks weird with her looking directly into the camera. Ah well, you live and you learn.
Hungary were great hosts, and the team enjoyed a great run which was cruelly ended by a late technical foul in their quarter-final with France. The referee was certainly well within his rights to call it, although I can also appreciate the Hungarian indignation - it was a pity to decide the game in that way, but they got over-emotional. It was strange to see the referees escorted from the arena as home fans went wild with rage - great to see the passion for youth basketball, anyway!
I got a nice couple of interviews for an article about how Hungary were developing, and they provided one of the great highlights in their group game with Croatia, a clip that still makes me beam to this day - the reaction to the final play is fantastic (from 1:57 in the video - well done Maris to capture it!). Agnes Studer, who has graduated to senior NT level now, hit a brilliant shot to win the game.
We got some mini-interviews with French forward Alexia Chartereau (not the last time!), Spanish guard Blanca Millan (after practice on the way back to the team hotel - she was very sweet), Turkey's huge center Inci Guclu, and Italian center Lorela Cubaj, although that was a real squad effort with half the team giggling away on various sofas around us!
Otherwise, the tournament was memorable behind the scenes for lots of fun with the crew. Soenke was my main FIBA Media liaison, a proper baller who was breaking into the media game and who did a great job despite being fairly fresh to the task. Isa and Francesca were awesome on the events side, and Viktor and Maris were great fun with photos and video - most evenings would end with a "debrief" and a sampling of one (or maybe two) bottles of local wine that Viktor had procured.
I was one of the last to leave, actually having enough time to take a nice long stroll around town on a gorgeous Monday afternoon.
