The best BH basketball player Jusuf Nurkić spoke for the famous L’Equipe before today’s match between our national team and France, which has a big stake for both teams.
However, fellow journalists from France were more interested in the difficulties faced by the BiH basketball team ahead of the Eurobasket, as well as the complex political situation in the country, more than basketball itself.
“I’m tired of that story! I’m sick of repeating that our people have a problem with the government and normal people just don’t want to suffer. We represent a real country. Whether you come from Bosnia or Herzegovina, I’m convinced that we are one and we show it on on the pitch. Our preparations were hell. Imagine the French team not having a hotel to sleep in or food for the players. In fact, I can’t even find the words to describe it. But at the very least, we’ll say it’s stupid that we had to solve. Now we are here, because we wanted to. As soon as we are on the court, we don’t think about it anymore. For a young team like ours, what we achieve at Eurubasket will be of great benefit to us,” said Nurkic.
The center of the Portland Trailblazers says that working in such conditions is not normal, especially for players who come from serious clubs.
“It’s really difficult to find yourself in such a situation. For most players, it may seem normal to be in such an unstable environment, but for me, having played in the NBA for years, it’s really not. I’m trying to tell the Bosnian people that it’s not normal. But, not now we need to worry about that, we just need to worry about whether we played well or badly. I hope that will change one day,” said Nurkic.
Nurkić tried to explain to the French that despite the difficulties, the players are trying to put their pride and ego aside and play for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Of course, we play to have better conditions for training, a better gym and so on. But we play for the people, we don’t play for politicians or people like that. I really don’t play for them! You saw what our victory against Slovenia meant for the country, and it meant a lot. When we see that, we try to put our pride and our ego aside in order to become the best possible team. So could Eurobasket change the consciousness and vision of our politicians? The war in Yugoslavia did not change their vision, nor did pandemic. I don’t think anything we could do would change anything, even if we won a gold medal… This has been the reality for 30 years. I don’t believe them, most people don’t believe them. The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina must go to the polls , this year is the presidential election. We have to understand that something has to change after 30 years. We can’t continue with the same government and the same regime after so many years. We have to achieve something more modern, people have to live better. Our children constantly they leave the country… It is not so bad, but the population emigrates elsewhere, the youngest continue their education abroad where they will have more opportunities. Thirty years later, people no longer want to hear about the war. And today we have our politicians who come out and say without hesitation that a return to war is a possibility. But we don’t want to hear about it! I don’t want to hear about it, neither do 99 percent of people. That’s our mentality. We want to give something positive to our country, to enable them to forget all that for a day,” said Nurkic.
Finally, Nurkić reflected on the match against France, which our team won ten days ago in Skenderija in the qualifiers for the World Cup, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
