Micha Ivanova believed at a very young age that she would make it to the top in basketball and the past few seasons suggest she is on her way.

The Poprad-born forward is just 19 years old, yet she already has shone for her country at junior level and after 2003-4 has a full year of EuroLeague experience under her belt with MBK Ruzomberok.

Ivanova, who promises to be among the central figures for Slovakia at the Under-20 European Championships this month in France, says all is going according to plan.

"My parents chose the sport that I would play," she said. "My mother played basketball so that was probably the reason.

"I started to play in the first grade of high school when I was seven. This was in the town of Poprad, near Tatras in the middle of Slovakia."

And it didn't take her much time to know she had a future in the game.

"I knew almost straight away," she said, "when I was in the second or third grade of  school because I enjoyed it so much."

While Ruzomberok benefit from Ivanova at club level - she averaged almost 5.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest in the FIBA EuroLeague for Women this year - the national side is also reaping the rewards.

At the European Championship for Junior Women in 2002, she averaged more than 10 points and pulled down more than four rebounds a game as Slovakia barely missed out on a podium finish.

"I was young so I didn't realise how important the championship was, but I do now," she said.

Ivanova says she is confident that she and many of the same players will improve on that fourth place finish this month at the 2004 European Championship for Under-20 Women.
Slovakia want gold.

"I think we can do better because we didn't reach our potential yet," she said. "We are going there to win the tournament."