EUROCHALLENGE

Kyle Landry's Triumph Lyubertsy will fight for the EuroChallenge trophy, but not for the Baltic League title

Triumph Lyubertsy have informed the Baltic Basketball League (BBL) that they are pulling out of the competition, to focus on the EuroChallenge instead.

Triumph are, in a way, victims of their own success.

The Russian team had already defeated Lithuanian side Siauliai in the first game of their BBL play-off series, and needed only one win in the next two games to secure a place in the last four of that competition.

The BBL Final Four though takes place on 27 and 28 April and it clashes with the EuroChallenge Final Four (27 to 29 April), so obviously Triumph were forced to, in effect, choose which trophy they would prefer to fight for.

The Moscow Region club qualified for the EuroChallenge Final Four after defeating Mad-Croc Fuenlabrada away in Madrid on Tuesday night, to win their quarter-final series 2-1 and complete one of the biggest upsets in the history of the competition.

Triumph had lost their first three games in the Last 16 and at that point, even their most optimistic fan did not expect them to stage a comeback and make it to the Quarter-Final Play-offs, let alone to the Final Four.

Following their famous win, the club informed the BBL on Wednesday that they are pulling out of the competition.

As a direct result of this development, Vasily Karasev's side will have some much appreciated extra time to focus on their preparations for the EuroChallenge Final Four, while Siauliai become the first team to punch their ticket to the last four tournament of the Baltic League.