Zoosman, Ebo and young talent Levinson carry Israel's hopes

TEL AVIV (FIBA U18 European Championship) - Israel return to Division A of the FIBA U18 European Championship with their hopes of success relying heavily on the likes of Yovel Zoosman and Amit Ebo while youngster Tomer Levinson could have an impact as well.

Israel head coach Daniel Gutt has nominated a trio of players who helped the country return to Division A in the summer of 2015, including leader Yovel Zoosman.

Also part of the team last summer were Michael Brisker and Meiron Ruina while all three re-join Gil Beni, Barak Orion and Tom Sapir from the team that helped Israel earn promotion from Division B at the FIBA U16 European Championship in 2014.

Ebo meanwhile is a shooter who can score in bunches, having led the Israeli U16 team in scoring in 2015. 

"We have a good generation that proved itself two years ago when they were promoted to Division A as cadets. The team is good, strong, united and special," Gutt said.

Still, the coach is fully aware of the difficulty facing Israel in Samsun, where they were drawn into Group C with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia and Lithuania.

"All teams in Division A are very good teams. There are no easy games. Some of them stood on the podium in the last championships but we are trying to focus on ourselves," Gutt said.

"We have a good team and we are going to Turkey to try and win a medal."

One other player who Gutt could get some major contributions from is the youngest on his team, the 2000-born 2.05 power forward Tomer Levinson, who is playing for second flight side Ironi Ness Ziona.

FIBA