On February 4th-5th, 2023, the British-Georgian Academy hosted the first tournament of the 2024 season. The tournament had group games with 5 schools - Lions 1 & 2, European School, New School, IB Mthiebi, and GZAAT.
Overall, our team won 2/4 games and unfortunately lost the semi-finals to the British-Georgian Academy, so they did not make it to the finals. However, in the 3rd/4th place playoff, they were able to score the 3rd place bronze medal against the IB Mthiebi with the decision-making 3-pointer by their two teammates - Sandro Guraspauli and Luka Shalikadze.
Nikoloz Salakaia, the GZAAT basketball team captain shared his feedback on the tournament: “The players had high hopes for the tournament, we were expecting to at least play in the final, if not winning, but this time we couldn’t achieve it. However, the tournament was still good overall.”
Shota Sikharulidze, a GZAAT prefect and manager of the basketball team also shared his opinion on the tournament: “This game was a first for many new players, so expectedly, they were all nervous and under immense pressure during the match. In addition to that, it was the first tournament for our new coach, too - Luka Zambaxidze. Overall, despite the two losses, I believe that third place is still very impressive.”
Lastly, Luka Zambaxidze, the new coach for the GZAAT team, who just started his coaching career, shared his experience: “I am satisfied with the determination and outcome of the boys. We could have definitely achieved a better result, but we still ended up in third place. We have a lot of newcomers to the team, but that doesn't stop us from working together to achieve our goals in the future, and for now, we are preparing for the QSI tournament, where we will fight even harder for a better outcome.”
The tournament was very emotional and exciting for everybody, especially for the newcomers of the team. And even though we did not win, we still did not go home fully empty-handed! There are many more tournaments and games to come in the future, such as the QSI tournament, said to be set in late February, where teams from different countries will be coming to participate. Additionally, there may be a tournament held by our school in spring, so stay tuned and support the GZAAT basketball team!
Edited by Elene Mansvetashvili
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