MADRID, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Spanish basketball player Rudy Fernandez
believes it is going to be hard for his team to win an Olympic medal in Beijing
next month.
Speaking to "El Mundo Deportivo" from Spain's training camp near Cadiz on
Tuesday, the shooting guard, who will be attending his second Olympics after
having seen in the Spain basketball squad for Athens 2004 when he was just
19-years-old, said although Spain are reigning world champions, it will be tough
to win one Olympic medal this time around.
"We have got a team that has got a lot of talent, because we are all
important players in our respective clubs and we also have a good future ahead
of us because we are young," said Rudy.
"The players also know that there are other teams who will go to the Games
and they will also have prepared very well," he said remembering what happened
in last year's European Championships, where Spain were surprised by the
Russians in the final and had to settle for second place.
"We are the world champions, but we saw that Russia beat us in the Euro
Basket. Every rival can give you a surprise," he said.
However, despite admitting it is not going to be easy, Rudy still has his
sights set on gold in Beijing.
"Our objective still has to be to win a medal. It is going to be
complicated, but as the tournament progresses, you fix your mind on going as far
as possible. To try and take some of the pressure off, we are going to take it
one game at a time," he concluded.