The Czech Republic looked to be good bets for a medal at the European Championships as recently as the beginning of August but an injury to Kamila Vodickova may be about to dash their dreams.

The 6ft 4in Vodickova, who plays in the WNBA with the Seattle Storm, is arguably the national team’s most effective player but she suffered a severely sprained ankle in a recent game against San Antonio in America and has been on the injured list ever since.

As a result, Vodickova is not expected to play for her country this summer, and just how coach Jan Bobrovsky will cope is anyone’s guess.

The likelihood is that the Czechs, who have yet to capture a medal since the Velvet Revolution in 1989 (the year Czechoslovakia lost the Soviet Union in the final) will rely more heavily on centre Lucie Blahuskova.

Bobrovsky, a former player with the men’s national team - he made 262 appearances for the national side over a 15-year period starting in 1963 - does have reason to hope after watching his team finish on top on four of five occasions in the recent Yili Kutlama warm-up tournament in Istanbul.

Their lone defeat in Turkey came against perennial powerhouses Russia, who only beat the Czechs 73-67.

On the plus side, Bobrovsky and company mauled Slovakia 77-46 and Germany 70-46.
They followed up the setback against Russia with a 90-63 triumph over Turkey and an 85-68 win over the Ukraine.

Russia, the Slovaks and the Ukraine will all be at the European Championships.
The Czechs have hosted Sweden in a couple of games on Tuesday and Wednesday and beaten them 101-45 and 120-48, respectively.

They play the Swedes a third time on Thursday night.

Another reason for hope is that Bobrovsky has enjoyed a lot of success as a coach.

As the boss of the Gambrinus Brno's women team, they finished third in the European Final four three years ago, and fourth in 2001.

He also celebrated six Czech titles from 1996-2001 with Gambrinus Brno.

The Vodickova factor - she is Seattle’s third leading scorer at more than 10 points a game and she also grabs better than five rebounds a contest - cannot be understated.

She averaged 17 points and more than nine rebounds a game in qualifying as the Czechs went unbeaten in their group.

From PA International, Prague