Serbia’s Borisa Simanic during the FIBA World Cup in Manila.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MIAMI – The Serbian national team player who lost his kidney at last year’s Fiba Basketball World Cup is back with the club, and on Sunday helped clinch a berth in next year’s EuroBasket tournament.
Boris Simanic – playing a home game in Belgrade with the national team for the first time since suffering an injury in the Philippines last year – scored 12 points in Serbia’s 98-51 win over Denmark on Sunday.
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The victory made Serbia the sixth team to secure a place at the European Championships, joining Lithuania and the four host nations – Latvia, Finland, Cyprus and Poland. There are 18 places left in the 24-team field.
Read: Borisa Simanic returns to Serbia in hopes of playing basketball again
Simanić suffered kidney failure after suffering an injury in Serbia’s game against South Sudan in Manila on August 30, 2023. In the final minutes he was fouled by a South Sudan player, due to which he was elbowed on the left side. middle part. He began bleeding shortly after the incident, underwent surgery, and had a kidney removed in a second surgery in early September after further complications were discovered.
“I’m very happy to see him back,” said Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic, a Serbian national team player and a possible candidate to play in EuroBasket next summer. “He’s someone I grew up watching and then I actually got a chance to play with him at home. We are like a family. It was really difficult to see what happened to him in that World Cup.”
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Simanic scored three points in another qualifying win in Denmark last week. Sunday’s game was his first in Serbia for the national team since the injury.
Read: Borisa Simanic recovering from injury inspires Serbia to reach semi-finals
“When the injury happened, I didn’t expect to come back so quickly,” Simanić told FIBA after the first game with Denmark. “Actually, I didn’t even know if I would come back or not.”
Jovic worked with Simanić over the summer and said he never doubted that his national teammate would return. Simanić is also playing professionally in the Adriatic League this season.
“I’m very happy to see him back,” Jovic said. “I think it’s an amazing journey, an amazing story. I don’t think many people could do what he did.”
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