Estonia men's national basketball team

Estonia

FIBA ranking	T-84[1]
Joined FIBA	1934 1991
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	Estonian Basketball Association
Coach	Tiit Sokk
Olympic Games
Appearances	1
Medals	0
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	0
Medals	0
FIBA EuroBasket
Appearances	5
Medals	0
Uniforms
Light Dark

The Estonia men's national basketball team represents Estonia in international men's basketball and is controlled by the Estonian Basketball Association.

The team first competed internationally in the 1936 Summer Olympics, finishing in 9th place. Estonia has made 5 appearances at the EuroBasket with best results coming from 1937 and 1939, when the team finished in 5th place.

History

Early years

Game between Estonia and Lithuania at EuroBasket 1937

Estonia competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin, Germany, the first Olympic tournament to hold basketball as an official medal event. Coached by Herbert Niiler, the team won their first round match against France but lost to the United States in the second round and to the Philippines in the third round, leaving Estonia in 9th place.

Estonia participated in the EuroBasket 1937. The team won their first match against Egypt but failed to advance past the group stage after suffering defeats to Lithuania and Italy. Estonia placed 5th in the final rankings after defeating Czechoslovakia and Latvia.^[2] The EuroBasket 1939 used a different format from the previous championship, with 8 teams facing off in a round-robin tournament. Estonia finished the tournament with a 4–3 record and another 5th place. Heino Veskila was the scoring leader with 16.7 points per game.^[3]

In 1940, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and the team was disbanded.

National team restored

After the restoration of independence, the Estonian Basketball Association rejoined FIBA in 1992. The team competed in the FIBA EuroBasket 1993, held in Germany. Coached by Jaak Salumets, the Estonia won their group in the preliminary round, finishing ahead of hosts and eventual champions Germany, Belgium and Slovenia, despite missing star players Martin Müürsepp and Tiit Sokk.^[4] Estonia lost to Russia 61–82 in the quarter-finals and finished the championship in 6th place with a 4–5 record.^[5]

Estonia participated in the FIBA EuroBasket 2001, held in Turkey. Estonia lost all three preliminary round matches, despite Martin Müürsepp leading the team with 18.3 points per game and finished the championship with a 0–3 record and a disappointing 14th place. Margus Metstak was the team's rebounding leader with 6.0 rebounds per game, while Rauno Pehka and Tanel Tein averaged 2.7 assists per game.^[6] After 2001, Estonia failed to qualify for another major basketball tournament for 14 years. The team competed in the FIBA EuroBasket 2011 Division B tournament, winning their group.

EuroBasket 2015

Estonia qualified to the FIBA EuroBasket 2015, with preliminary round matches held in Riga, Latvia. Estonia's first two performances were poor as the team suffered heavy defeats in games against Czech Republic (57–80) and Belgium (55–84). The team, however, bounced back with a 78–71 victory against Ukraine, their first EuroBasket victory since 1993.^[7] The next game saw the team defeated by Lithuania 62–64 in a close game. In the final group phase game, Estonia played against Latvia, losing 64–75 and failing to advance to the knockout stage.^[8] Estonia finished the championship in 20th place with a 1–4 record. Gregor Arbet was the team's scoring leader with 11.6 points per game, while Siim-Sander Vene averaged 6.4 rebounds and Sten Sokk contributed 4.2 assists per game.

Competitive record

Olympic Games Year Position Pld W L 1936 9th place 3 1 2 1948 Did not enter 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 Did not qualify 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 Total 1/18 3 1 2 World Cup Year Position Pld W L 1950 Did not enter 1954 1959 1963 1967 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 Did not qualify 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Total 0/17 0 0 0

EuroBasket Year Position Pld W L 1935 Did not enter 1937 5th place 5 3 2 1939 5th place 7 4 3 1946 Did not enter 1947 1949 1951 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 6th place 9 4 5 1995 Did not qualify 1997 1999 2001 14th place 3 0 3 2003 Did not qualify 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015[N 1] 20th place 5 1 4 Total 5/39 29 12 17

Players

Current roster

Roster for the Eurobasket 2015.

Estonia men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr. SG 4 Veideman, Rain 23 – 1 October 1991 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Kalev/Cramo PG 5 Sokk, Tanel 30 – 20 January 1985 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Tartu Ülikool/Rock SG 6 Dorbek, Gert 30 – 10 June 1985 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Tartu Ülikool/Rock PG 7 Sokk, Sten 26 – 14 February 1989 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Dynamo Moscow PF 8 Talts, Janar 32 – 7 April 1983 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Tartu Ülikool/Rock SF 9 Arbet, Gregor 32 – 19 June 1983 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Kalev/Cramo PG 10 Keedus, Erik 25 – 27 April 1990 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Kalev/Cramo SF 11 Vene, Siim-Sander 24 – 12 November 1990 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Žalgiris C 13 Toome, Joosep 30 – 21 June 1985 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Tartu Ülikool/Rock SF 14 Kangur, Kristjan (C) 32 – 23 October 1982 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Openjobmetis Varese C 15 Hallik, Reinar 31 – 5 January 1984 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Falco KC Szombathely SG 20 Kurbas, Tanel 27 – 8 May 1988 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Tartu Ülikool/Rock	Head coach Tiit Sokk Assistant coach(es) Alar Varrak Andres Sõber Rait Käbin Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 5 September 2015

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Bench 3
C	Janar Talts	Joosep Toome	Reinar Hallik
PF	Kristjan Kangur	Siim-Sander Vene
SF	Gregor Arbet	Tanel Kurbas	Erik Keedus
SG	Rain Veideman	Gert Dorbek
PG	Sten Sokk	Tanel Sokk

Coaches

Tiit Sokk, the current Estonia coach

Coach	Career	Competition	Result
Herbert Niiler	1929–1940	1936 Olympic Games	9th
		1937 EuroBasket	5th
		1939 EuroBasket	5th
Jaak Salumets	1993–1997	1993 EuroBasket	6th
Maarten van Gent	1997–1999
Üllar Kerde	1999–2001	2001 EuroBasket	14th
Heino Enden	2001–2004
Tiit Sokk	2004–2007
Üllar Kerde	2007–2009
Tiit Sokk	2009–	2015 EuroBasket	20th

Past rosters

See also

• Estonia women's national basketball team

Notes

1. Along with Latvia, hosts will be and Croatia, France and Germany. Estonia has been drawn in Group D, and therefore they will compete in Latvia.

References

1. "FIBA Ranking for Men". Fiba.Com. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
2. "Season 1937". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
3. "Season 1939". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
4. "Koondised". Estonian Basketball Association. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
5. "Season 1993". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
6. "Season 2001". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
7. "Estonia revel in historic success". eurobasket2015.org. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
8. "Latvia battle back to punch Last 16 ticket". eurobasket2015.org. Retrieved 11 September 2015.

External links

• Official website (Estonian)
• FIBA Profile