Career: USK Praha (Czech Republic-ZBL, 1998-99), Gambrinus Brno (Czech Republic-ZBL, 1999-2007).

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When Eva Viteckova collected the 2006 Czech Female Player of the Year award earlier this year, she looked puzzled, saying: “I thought they were going to give it to Hana (Machova). I’m just a scorer, she is the captain”

It matters little in the end because everybody who cares about women’s basketball in the Czech Republic knows that Hana Machova does not need to be given awards to know where she stands. Everybody around the team agrees that she is a natural born leader and as such is an obvious successor to the likes of Eva Nemcova or Romana Hamzova.

She is the country’s most versatile player, a point guard who is willing to go to any length if it will get her team a win.  She rebounds, steals, dishes out assists, shoots and dives for loose balls, all in equal measure. Machova’s most important characteristic is her passion for the game.  Her peers speak glowingly about her style of play and she has earned the nickname “lioness”, in reference to the lion which is the main motif on the Czech coat of arms.

Machova is a leader not only in spirit but also in numbers.  Her team Gambrinus Brno failed to defend their EuroLeague Women title this year. But they rallied for a 12th consecutive domestic title at home and Machova ended the season as the league’s MVP, averaging 15 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

Last year it was her outstanding individual performance of 13 points, seven boards, four assists and four steals in a quarter-final deciding game against Bourges Basket that propelled Brno to the EuroLeague Women Final Four and eventually to the title. In the final she had 14 points, eight boards and four steals in a 68-54 win over CSKA Volgaburmash.

She carried that form to the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil where she was the Czech team’s most efficient player though, as she admitted afterwards, she would happily trade all those stats for the chance to finish better place than seventh.

Machova made the starting five for the national side at age 20 and she has been a regular ever since. The Bruntal native has already appeared in four previous EuroBaskets, with one of her best performances coming in the final of the EuroBasket 2005 against Russia when she scored nine points but, just as crucially, also had 12 rebounds.

Inevitably Machova, who also led her team in assists and steals, was named to the All-Tournament Team.