Russia Steals Eurobasket Medal from Macedonia

The new Macedonian sport heroes will be greeted with a grand welcome on Monday upon their arrival to the capital Skopje.

The country is throwing a big party and a parade through city streets to celebrate what has been the biggest sporting sucess in the Macedonian history.

Thousands gathered at the main square in Skopje to watch the game on a big screen. Many cried after Russia won the game.

Macedonia lost 68: 72 to Russia in a match that was uncertain right untill the end.
 
Russia maintained a close but steady lead all through the first two quarters going into the halftime break with 36:30 lead.  The third and fourth quarters saw a tight score with Macedonia taking the lead on several occasions.

Macedonia’s Damjan Stojanovski missed a two pointer just seconds before the end that could have led Macedonia to victory.

For Macedonia Bo McCalleb scored 22 points while Andrei Kirilenko scored 18 for Russia.

Despite the defeat from Russia thousands of Macedonians are expected to greet the team on Monday to celebrate the historic sucess.
 
The country has never even qualified for the Olympics and has played twice previously in the EuroBasket championship. Two years ago the national basketball team won two matches, coming ninth in the tournament.

While victories against Croatia, Finland, Bosnia were events to savour in a country that takes few prizes in sport, victory against Macedonia’s neighbour, Greece, was seen as the icing on the cake.

Macedonia lost against Russia by one shot (61:63) in the last game of the second round, interrupting what had been a series of six wins. In the semi-finals the defender of the crown, Spain was better than Macedonia.

Eurobasket 2011 official site proclaimed the win of Macedonia against the home country Lithuania in the quarter finals on Wednesday as the biggest upset by an underdog team in the history of the Euro Championships that is held since 1935.

The small Balkan nation has been thirsty for major sporting successes for quite a long time. The last that draw similar amount of people cheering out on the squares and streets was the women’s volleyball team of Kometal Gjorce Petrov when it became European Champion in 2002.

Macedonia’s government has been vocal in its support for the team whose players have become national heroes. The government paid to send hundreds of fans to Lithuania for the games with lithuania and Spain.

President Gorgje Ivanov has already honoured the players. On Monday, he issued a decree awarding the players and team support staff with a medal.

Several days earlier the government rewarded the players with 3,000 euros each for their results so far and pledged additional 5,000 euros if they succeed in positioning themselves among the top six teams on the Championship.