MKD - Lazovski now in charge of FYROM

SKOPJE (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - Marjan Lazovski was on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's bench at the moment everything changed for his country last year, on September 14 in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Vlado Ilievski, after a turnover by the Lithuanians, buried a long three-pointer to put FYROM into a 66-65 lead with 11 seconds remaining.

Lithuania then failed to score and FYROM rebounded, added an Ilievski free-throw and celebrated the most famous moment in the history of the country's basketball.

Now Lazovski, who was an assistant to Marin Dokuzovski, has been promoted to the top job.

Dokuzovski, saying he had to focus on his club duties with Lukoil Academic in Bulgaria, decided not to continue.

Lazovski, 49, knows a lot about the job he has taken on.

He served as an assistant for five years.

Lazovski helped Jovica Arsic at EuroBasket 2009 in Poland, and Dokuzovski in Lithuania.

FYROM have given him a two-year contract, just as they did for Arsic and Dokuzovski.

He will be in charge of the national team through EuroBasket 2013 no matter what the team does in Venezuela at this summer's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) where the last three places for the London Games are up for grabs.

The Basketball Federation of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia once again insisted on having a home-grown coach.

"I hope I will be up to the task and to the expectations," Lazovski said.

"This is a great privilege and honor for me.

"It will be anything but easy due to the results that we made these past three to four years."

Lazovski will borrow on the 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' philosophy.

"I will not change the roster in general - only if there are injuries," he said.

"We will try to keep the positive atmosphere in the national team."

FYROM discovered two days ago that they will face Angola and New Zealand at the OQT in Group D.

"About the 'Mission London' opponents," Lazovski said, "we have a good chance for the Olympics because we have opponents that we can beat.

"We know what we need to about New Zealand because we played against them in the traditional tournament, "Trophy Macedonia" (preparation games for EuroBasket 2011) in Skopje, and Angola and Korea were the other teams that we wished for before the draw.

"We wanted to avoid Puerto Rico and we did."

Lazovski has coached almost all major teams in FYROM and now is at the helm of the most decorated side in the country, KK Rabotnicki, a club that is struggling in the domestic league and not playing in regional or other European competitions due to budget limitations.

He has won the domestic cup on several occasions but never a league title.

Lazovski led FYROM to Division A when the 2006 U20 European Championship Division B was held in Portugal.

Predrag Samardziski, Kiril Nikolovski, Darko Sokolov, Damjan and Vojdan Stojanovski and Aleksandar Kostovski were all members that under-20 side, and each played in last year's team at the EuroBasket in Lithuania.

FIBA