Who is ready to shine in Skopje?

SKOPJE (FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship Division B 2017) – Promotion will be the aim of several nations preparing to hit the hardwood at the FIBA U16 Women's European Championship 2017, Division B in Skopje.

Experience is always precious at the event, with those teams boasting previous participants often best-placed to make the leap towards Division A.

Last year in Oradea was a painful experience for Israel who lost out on promotion by finishing fourth. But, with more returnees than any other team, they will be strongly fancied to make another push towards the top tier. Watch out for the likes of Gaya Sless and Danielle Karsh again, who both played well last summer.

Similarly, Greece are banking on some of their returnees to shine, with Ioanna Krimili an All-Star Five contender if Greece do well, with her namesake Ioanna Chatzileonti also highly-rated.

The women’s basketball community in Belgium is riding on the high of taking gold at the FIBA U18 Women's European Championship 2017 in Sopron last weekend. They will want to keep the momentum going with a promotion surge to build on other accomplishments like their historic FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 bronze in Prague.

Portugal will be looking to bounce back from their relegation last year and not least since they famously made an unexpected run to the Final just two years ago in Matosinhos.

Last summer's drop to Division B was quite a come down from the highs of the silver medal in 2015. Joana Lopes and Ana Faustino have been in good form during the friendlies leading into the competition.

There was also relegation for Sweden who will bring an entirely new roster to Skopje, with Tova Sabel having impressed in the preparation games with some serious offensive production.

Slovak Republic are the other nation searching for a quick-fire return and Tereza Podhradska and Martina Dovcikova are likely to shoulder the main scoring load.

Great Britain will compete at the event for the first time, superseding England and Scotland who played at the 2016 edition. There will also be a new face in the shape of Moldova as rookies in the competition, while the local fans in Skopje will get behind the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia when the action gets underway.

Finally, with Lithuania having been designated as host of the FIBA U16 Women's European Championship 2018, they will not be relegated – despite finishing in the bottom three of the recent FIBA U16 Women's European Championship in Bourges. Consequently, this means only two nations will be promoted in Skopje.

FIBA