Vardar 1961 - Telekom Veszprem 27:35 (12:15)

(Ristovki 7, Kalarash 6 / Corrales 14, Nenadic 5 )

Stevche Alushovski, Vardar 1961 coach:

We tried with 7 versus 6 actions in order to hopefully surprise them. We were aware of how deadly their transition is and how quick they are when they manage to defend successfully. Well-deserved win for them in the end, they obviously have a better team, bigger roster and more quality individuals at the moment.

Borko Ristovki, Vardar 1961 player:

Well-deserved win for them in the end. We havea lot of new players and we’ll obviously need some time to get things going in the right direction. This tournament helped us realize there are a lot of things we still have to work on and I believe that in case we manage to improve in those aspects of the game we’ll have a good season. That’s what matters the most for us at the moment. Today we’ve proved we didn’t come here with a ‘white flag’. In sports you have to fight all the time and until the final whistle no matter who is standing on the opposite side of the court. I feel like we could’ve delivered a better performance here today but in the end we have what we have. I repeat, well-deserved win for them in the end.

David Davis,  Telekom Veszprem coach:

We came here prepared and our goal was obviously to finish the tournament in a victorious manner. They did try to surprise us and I congratulate them on that. Of course we weren’t able to prepare for the match in the best possible way since we’ve only had one way to do it which is why we experimented a lot with different both offensive and defensive schemes. I’d also like to use the opportunity to dedicate this win to our supporters who I’m sure would’ve been here for us if we weren’t dealing with this global pandemic. By that, I’d like to use the opportunity to thank my family - my wife and kids for everything. Regarding the match here today - we were aware we’ll have to fight throughout the entire course of it and that’s exactly what we did. We opened the first half on a great note and that was one of the keys for our win here today in my opinion.

Gasper Marguc, Telekom Veszprem player:

It feels good to open the season with a title, especially after the tough preparation period we went through. We displayed the right level of performance when it was needed the most opening the match in the right way which helped us take control of it early on. I believe we have a great team and that a good season is ahead of us.