Art Gashi, president of KB Peja: I believe we are good enough to win in Bar

KB Peja is visiting KK Mornar in a last game from group C of the Second Stage in EUROHOLD Balkan League, knowing that a win will qualify the team directly for the semifinal. Here is that the president of the club - Mr. Art Gashi, had to say few days before the match:
"The team this season made more changes than usually. We changed more players than all the seasons before and this was just trying to make the best team possible. This game is one of the most important games and I believe we had the chance to close the standings before. We had the chance to defeat Craiova in one of the two games - one of them was at home in front of one of the best crowds in EUROHOLD Balkan League but we were unlucky and we didn′t play well in that game. So now we play a team that is basically eliminated and has nothing to lose so they are going to play that game to leave BIBL with a good taste.

The only problem is the chemistry. We tried to take experienced players in order to accomodate easier, still we are having difficulties even in our domestic championship. We are having problems with the chemistry of the players which are not used to play together and the coaches are doing a very hard job to make that happen. I believe that right now we are good enough to get the win in Bar and qualify for the semifinal.

Balkan League is a very tough league for all the teams that participate in it. Especially this season all the teams were equal when it comes to quality. Even those that didn′t have the chance to qualify for the Second Stage and those that are already out, I believe were very close that will go through and even to the team that will win the competition. In Balkan League you need to have a lot of luck because as I said in terms of quality all the teams are very very close to each other and this makes the league very very interesting so no game is decided before the tip-off. The last team can beat the first and it happened to us. We were with one leg in the semifinals and we lost two matches - one at home and one away from Craiova.

This is the second season we are playing in EUROHOLD Balkan League and for us it′s historical to make an international appearance. For me as a president it was an honour it happened during my time at the club to have the chance and be lucky enough to play internationally. Peja is a very traditional team with a lot of history in Kosovo league and it was the right time to make the international appearance. We are very thankful and we appreciate every moment that we play in EUROHOLD Balkan League.

As I said, BIBL is one of the most interesting leagues right now. In FIBA a lot of the teams have better quality than us but I believe that for the moment, for us Peja and the Kosovo teams, Balkan League is the best place to play and be competitive and try to win something. Otherwise participating in other league could be very risky for each team that takes that risk because with eventual loss in the beginning we′ll lose a lot of fans and that means we′ll lose a lot of sponsors. And as we know both teams from Kosovo are fully commercial teams which take very little from the Municipality and government, so we need to be competitive and try to win every game so we are interesting for the fans to come and see us. Our fans are ones that ask a lot and want to win every game, so I believe that the Balkan League is very interesting and gives us that opportunity and even to win the competition in general."