Juani Marcos in the Americup and Eurobasket begins for four blaugranes
The Barça basketball team are about to get their preseason under way with medical on Friday 29 August for all the squad except those players on international duty, Juani Marcos with Argentina, 'Toko' Shengalia with Georgia and Joel Parra, Willy Hernángomez and Darío Brizuela with Spain.
Juani Marcos in the quarter finals of the Americup
Barça's Argentinian guard Juani Marcos is in Nicaragua for the Americup tournament at the moment. Wins against the hosts by 94-70 and an 84-83 win over Colombia in the group stages were enough to see Argentina through to the quarter-finals despite an overtime defence by the Dominican Republic in their other group fixture.
Four blaugranes involved in Eurobasket
The European tournament begins on Wednesday 27 August in Cyprus with four Barça player set to be involved. Willy Hernángomez captains a Spain squad that also contains his blaugrana team mates Darío Brizuela and Joel Parra.
Spain find themselves in Group H in the initial phase, alongside a Georgia team that contains recent Barça signing 'Toko' Shengalia. The new blaugrana is in the squad despite suffering from an arrythmia identified after the team's warm up game on 8 August. After tests in Barcelona under the supervision of Dr. Josep Brugada and the FC Barcelona Medical Services, the player has returned to training with Georgia following a medical protocol which will see him gradually return to action in the Eurobasket tournament.
Czech internationals Tomas Satoransky and Jan Vesely will both miss the tournament due to injury.
Group H Eurobasket fixtures
- 28 August: Georgia vs. Spain (2:00 PM) (all times CEST).
- 30 August: Italy vs. Georgia (2:00 PM), Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Spain (8:30 PM)
- 31 August: Georgia vs. Greece (2:00 PM), Spain vs. Cyprus (5:15 PM)
- 2 September: Cyprus vs. Georgia (5:15 PM), Italy vs. Spain (8:30 PM)
- 4 September: Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Georgia (2:00 PM), Spain vs. Greece (8:30 PM)
Nico Laprovittola and Juan Nuñez, almost ready
The Argentina international Laprovittola and the Spanish international Juan Nuñez will not be involved with their respective national sides as both are returning from long term injuries. Both players have spent the summer training at the Ciutat Esportiva with the aim of starting preseason with the first team in the best possible physical shape.