Slovenia coach surprised by support from Filipino fans in classification

Slovenia’s Luka Doncic. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Coach Aleksander Sekulic was surprised to see a packed Mall of Asia Arena on back-to-back nights despite Slovenia sustaining two losses in the classification phase of the 2023 Fiba World Cup.

On Thursday, the Slovenians dropped their second straight game after a 100-84 loss to Lithuania and were sent into the classification for seventh and eighth places.

Sekulic, however, was grateful for the fans who came out and supported NBA star Luka Doncic and the Slovenians.

“I want to show our gratitude and how grateful we are that we now have such a fanbase here, especially Luka. Because of him, the Slovenian team now has one,” he said.

Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic. -MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

“I want to thank them for this amazing support here. I didn’t expect this, at least me, so I’m really thankful for that.”

Slovenia faces Italy on Saturday for seventh place and Sekulic hopes to still draw a big crowd in support of his team.

“I wish they could come and cheer for us also in the next game that we play because it’s great to play in such an atmosphere.”

Italy was relegated to the battle for seventh after faltering against Latvia, 87-82.

The Lithuanians, on the other hand, will have a chance to finish fifth when they battle the Latvians, on Saturday.