Israel’s women’s under-20 basketball team is preparing for the European Championship, and will fly on Monday to Slovakia for a short warm-up tour. There, the team will play the host nation twice, then face Serbia twice before returning to Israel. The tournament itself begins on July 4 in Klaipeda, Lithuania, where Israel will compete in Division A and meet Spain, Croatia and host Lithuania in the group stage.
The coaching staff today named 12 players for the tune-up games and the championship roster: Maya Elmalih, Lee Tichman, Ayala Oren, Maayan Cohen, Gal Raviv, Neta Meisjar, Ariel Solomon, Mai Bayko, Noa Magad, Maya Zilberschlag, Naama Cohen-Mintz and Tehila Cohen. The staff includes head coach Tal Natan, assistant coach Omri Tsirlin, scout Shani Friedman, fitness coach Kanant Haila, physiotherapist Michal Neuberger-Nissim and team manager Noa Racanti.
Natan said he was “very excited” to lead the team again into the European Championship and thanked the federation leadership and professional committee for the appointment. He said the four friendlies against Slovakia and Serbia will provide an initial measure of the team’s preparation, and noted that Israel’s difficult security situation has made the players especially aware of “the symbol, the flag, the Israeli identity.” He added, “We will bring the Israeli spiciness into our soup.”
Looking at continuity from last summer, Natan said years of work with the same players improves chemistry and familiarity. He praised the roster as a very good, high-quality group and said he trusts and values every player. He highlighted Raviv as a special, dominant player with EuroBasket and World Cup experience, saying she makes the players around her better. Natan stressed that Israel will need to function as a united team to compete against top opponents such as Germany, Spain, Italy and Hungary.