Art Gashi, president of KB Peja: It′s going to be tough to beat us at home

Art Gashi is president of one of the newcomers in EUROHOLD Balkan League. His team will make its debut in continental competition having won the title of Kosovo last season. Here is Gashi′s thoughts about his team participation in the tournament:
"For our team and for the whole basketball of Kosovo this is very historic season because for the first time we′ll have two teams playing internationally. We respect a lot EUROHOLD Balkan League and we did a lot of effort to join it. I think that the chance came this year. We′ll try to do our best. For us it′s very important to have a quality team but what is more important than the quality is the organization of the club and that to organize and prepare good games for us and also for the people that will watch on TV. I think it′s the last chance for Kosovo to show to Europe and to the whole world that we deserve to play for a long time but the political situation didn′t let us do it. We really thank EUROHOLD Balkan League and Mr. Shtriks for giving us the chance to show to the people that Kosovo can play basketball.
Peja is one of the biggest clubs in Kosovo and one of the most famous with one of the biggest fan base. Since we were founded as a club we always fought for championships and trophies. Last season we were champions of Kosovo and we had a very quality team. With this season in EUROHOLD Balkan League we are going to try to improve and develop to a better club and a better team.
Our coach Daniel Lutz is one of the best in the region. Last season he was a champion and cup winner with Cibona Zagreb - one of the greatest club in the region. He came to Peja to develop a long term project with us. As I told you it′s important to have a quality team but what is more important is to have an organized club and Mr. Lutz will help us in this way. We have signed three foreign players. One of them is Frederick House who has a big impact in the region. He played for Partizan Belgrade two seasons and was one of the best there. Then he played in other famous clubs like Lietuvos Rytas, Tau Ceramica, Pamesa and a lot of others. He came to play for Peja in the moment we told him we′re playing international competition in EUROHOLD Balkan League and he really wants to make in impact in the competition. We have signed also Vedran Morovic who played for Zadar and for the national team of Croatia. He is a very good player and I think he will also make an impact in EUROHOLD Balkan League. We signed also George Odufuwa who was Fred House′s teammate in the Development league in USA. He is a young player, he played in Ukraine and doesn′t have a lot of experience in Europe, but I think he will get to learn our basketball.
In the moment we entered this competition we really wanted to show that we are a quality team and we really want to stay here as long as we can and as long as the league can keep us. To play in EUROHOLD Balkan League you have to be successful domestically as well so we have to fight in both competitions. In Kosovo I think we′ll be aiming for both trophies this season - championship and cup. I can′t say anything about EUROHOLD Balkan League because I still don′t know the other teams. We are unexperienced in Europe but it doesn′t mean we can′t surprise. I can promise that any team that comes to Peja will be welcomed but it has to be very strong to beat us. We are very strong at home.
Our team will develop as a organization. We are building a new basketball academy to develop young players because Peja has a lot of talents. I believe that in few years Peja will be a center of basketball in Kosovo and will not only develop young players from the city but also young players from all of Kosovo. May be in few years we′ll have more domestic players who will have a huge impact for our club - domestically and also internationally.
As I said the other teams will have a warm welcome to the city but one thing - it′s going to be tough for them to beat us at home. We have a strong and quality team and they will get to know us very soon."