Ticket to Tokyo! Czech basketball team qualifies for Olympics for first time

With a dominant 97-72 win over Greece at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament in Victoria, Canada on Sunday, the Czech Republic's men's national basketball team is going to the Summer Olympics for the first time since the formation of the country in 1993. As part of Czechoslovakia, the team last appeared in the Olympics in 1980.

The Czech team has a tough road ahead during the Tokyo games later this month, however: it has been placed in Group A alongside perennial Olympic basketball favorites USA, as well as France and Iran.

Teams from twelve countries have qualified for this year's Summer Olympics basketball tournament in Tokyo: Group B features Germany, Australia, Italy, and Nigeria, and Group C contains Argentina, Japan, Spain, and Slovenia. This year's Olympics in Tokyo, postponed from 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will take place from July 25 to August 7.

The Czech team is a decided underdog against the USA in Group A, but some secret weapons that include NBA star Tomáš Satoranský, who plays point guard for the Chicago Bulls and was named the FIBA Qualifying Tournament's MVP.

"We were getting better every game," Satoranský said after the win over Greece on Sunday.

"We didn't start well. The lack of practice, the lack of preparation, influenced us a lot, but we believe in this group. We've got good chemistry playing with each other for a long time."

Seven-foot (2.13-meter) tall center Jan Veselý, who plays for Fenerbahçe in the Turkish Basketball Super League, scored 16 points with eight rebounds, five assists, and five steals.

Patrik Auda, who plays for the Yokohama B-Corsairs in Japan's B.League, led the Czech team in scoring on Sunday with 20 points, earning player of the game honors.

"They're a veteran team that took advantage of us in a lot of different areas," Greece coach Rick Pitino, who has previously coached in the NBA and NCAA, said after the game.

"They dominated us on the glass 35-23, their assists were 25-12. The effort was there, but the game wasn't. But that's due to the brilliance of the Czech Republic. They were just much better than us."

Despite the lay-up win over Greece, the Czech team was lucky to make it to the qualifying final after a nail-biter with Canada, considered by many to be a favorite, on Saturday. The Czech team narrowly edged Canada 103-101 in overtime on a last-second basket from Satoranský.

Czech coach Ronen Ginzburg congratulated his players after the win.

"It's a wonderful feeling. Even at this moment, I cannot describe in words how we feel and it will probably only dawn on us in a few days," he said.

"I told the players before the start of the game that getting to the Olympics is the dream of every athlete and coach. It came true for us and we are very happy. We have a great group of players with huge character."