Earlier this week, the basketball fraternity in Europe was shocked with the news of a very sad incident, but seemingly with a lucky ending, concerning a popular player.
This happened in Germany and the player in question was the thirty year old Croatian small forward (204 cm) Matej Mamic who presently plays for German top side Alba Berlin after joining them last year on a two-year contract.
The game in question was a Bundesliga game, played at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, between Alba Berlin and TBB Trier.
Only seven and a half minutes were left in the game with a tight scoreline standing at 66-64 for the local side.
Mamic made a power move towards the opponents’ basket but his shot was blocked by Trier’s centre player, US product Nate Doornekamp. Unfortunately Mamic suffered some contact and fell awkwardly and ended banging the back of his head quite hard against the floor.
The players, referees and spectators gasped and feared the worst when Mamic immediately laid motionless on the floor for several minutes whilst Berlin’s team doctor sprinted from his bench to Mamic’s side.
The doctor immediately tried to talk to the player, trying to lure him to test his own reflexes. However the doctor reported, in the subsequent post-incident press conference, that Mamic could faintly speak and was having very big difficulty to breathe. Worse still, Mamic could only feel above his neck and there was a big fear that he was paralysed.
Under these circumstances Mamic was quickly given a neck-brace and flown by helicopter to a nearby Berlin hospital.
The atmosphere at the gym was definitely dull and a logical decision was taken. In fact, after consulting with the Trier bench, the referees accepted Berlin’s plea that the game be stopped.
All the Berlin players rushed to the stands where they comforted Mamic’s wife Veronika and three children who incidentally had just arrived in Berlin just two days earlier in order to visit Matej Mamic.
Meanwhile, at the Berlin hospital, Mamic was rushed to the emergency department. The fear of paralysis was high but luckily Mamic’s condition started improving slightly after 24 hours. Mamic regained full consciousness and started talking. The original paralysis started receding on some body parts and finally doctors declared that Mamic, obviously after long treatment, will be able to walk again.
In fact, 72 hours after the sad incident Alba Berlin president Dieter Hauert announced to the press that Mamic was doing well in hospital. Hauert recounted that Mamic had shown him that he could now move his legs and even said that Mmaic wanted to send a message to his team-mates “Keep everything tight, make an extra strong effort and fight for me”.
Mamic, who is known for his defensive pressure, had started playing with local side KK Split in 1995 and then moved to Croatian neighbours Rijeka before joining Turkish side Galatasaray for one year in 1999. In the latter season, hisexplots became more noticed and in 2000 was snapped by top European side Cibona Zagreb with whom Mamic played for four full seasons winning not only two championships and Croat cups respectively but also the European Championship in 2001 and 2003.
Last year he joined Berlin and was a very important part of the side that won the German Bundesliga last May.
Mamic has also been forming part of the Croat national side since 2000 and also took part in last September’s European championships where Croatia were eliminated by Spain in the quarter finals in a highly disputed game by the Croats themselves as this loss meant that an eventual spot in the World Championships next year could only be achieved through a wild card (more on this later in the next section of today’s article)
Four countries receive important wild cards
Earlier also this week, the FIBA Central Board met for its bi-annual meeting in Rome. One of the most important decisions in this meeting was the allotment of the four available wild cards for next year’s World Championships to be played in Japan.
The final decision was taken upon the proposal of FIBA’s secretary-general Patrick Baumann. According to FIBA, the decision was based on a number of criteria, which were previously approved by the Central Board at its previous meeting in Nyon, Switzerland in May 2005.
From the European sphere, Serbia & Montenegro, Italy and Turkey managed to enter next year’s FIBA World Championship in Japan through the back door after receiving three of the four possible wild cards. Puerto Rico, from the Americas region, have received the fourth.
Serbia & Montenegro have won the last two world titles, under the name of Yugoslavia, but this year, surprisingly for some (although the team’s performance was not up to standard and as consistent as usual), failed to qualify automatically when they bowed out of the EuroBasket 2005, they themselves hosted, in the elimination round against France.
This year’s setback had followed a disappointing sixth place finish at the EuroBasket in Sweden in 2003 and an 11th position at the Athens Olympics last year.
Serbia & Montenegro will still be among the favourites to win a medal next year in Japan as they have some of the most talented players in the world, although it has yet to be decided who will replace coach Zeljko Obradovic who stepped down after last September’s EuroBasket.
Italy, who also went out in the elimination round against Croatia this summer, have made it to Japan after taking into account strong results in previous years.
They captured a bronze medal in Sweden at the EuroBasket 2003 and followed that up with a silver medal in Greece during the Summer Games in 2004.
Turkey, on the other hand, were runners-up to Yugoslavia as hosts of EuroBasket in 2001, but have not made much of an impact since.They were ninth at the FIBA World Championship in 2002, 12th at EuroBasket 2003 and this summer bowed out in the elimination round.
Obviously other European countries were disappointed as they were hoping that they get the wild card. Croatia is one such nation, especially as they based their argument that they had progressed much further than the three chosen countries in this year’s European championships not to mention their long going ‘battle’ with neighbours Serbia.
Puerto Rico has been one of the top sides from the Americas over the years. They were seventh at the World Championship in 2002 and then won the bronze medal at the FIBA Americas Championship before making headlines at the Olympics when they handsomely beat the United States on the opening day of that tournament. Puerto Rico then eventually lost to Italy in the quarter-finals.
Without the services of NBA star Carlos Arroyo and Unicaja Malaga centre Daniel Santiago, a weakened Puerto Rico failed to qualify at the FIBA Americas Championship this summer but FIBA have welcomed the country into the event.
With this decision over, the 24 teams that will play in the World Championships next year, between the 19th of August and the 3rd of September, are now known.
These are Angola, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Senegal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Venezuela and the USA.
The draw for these championships will take place in Japan on the 15th of January. The 24 teams will be drawn into four groups of six teams each.
The teams will play each other in the preliminary phase in four groups of 6 teams. The top 4 teams from each group will then qualify directly for the Eighth-Finals, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals. All the games from the Eighth-Finals to the Finals will be played on a one-game elimination basis.
Yugoslavia is leading the role of honour with five gold medals followed by the Soviet Union and USA with three gold medals each. The 2002 FIBA World Championship was played in Indianapolis, USA, where Yugoslavia won gold and Argentina silver.
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