By Michalis Gioulenoglou/ info@eurohoops.net
Limassol, Cyprus – Even one day before the start of the EuroBasket, Toko Shengelia himself couldn’t answer to the question of his participation in the opening game of the tournament against Spain.
Just three days ago, both the Georgian federation and his club, Barcelona, have announced that due to a heart arrhythmia and after undergoing tests in Barcelona, he re-joined the team.
He was back, but could he really be back in action on the court?
When all was said and done, Shengelia, the captain of the team, played for 20 minutes, and scored 13 crucial points.
Was this expected? Coach Aleksandar Džikić admitted on the press conference that this was not the case: “No, no, no. I will not mention names; two of my guys had the duty to hold him on the bench because that’s who he is. He will hate me now, but my job is not to allow him that”.
Just on his side, Shengelia was smiling. He will do everything for his national team, as he said before to Eurohoops, and even his recent medical adventure was not enough to keep him off the court.
“He’s a cold-hearted killer, so he’s an amazing leader”, Sandro Mamukelashvili, who also played injured as Shengelia revealed, had said about his captain a bit earlier.
For Mamu and for the rest of the team, Toko is an inspiration: “Just like him coming to Cyprus, seeing us already gave us a lot of energy. He comes in, plays the right way, makes the right reads, you know, it’s unselfish. So him deciding to play meant so much to us, and we knew that with him we’re going to be a lot more stronger”.
The definition of a captain…
Photo Credit: FIBA