24hoursworld

The 105th act of a classic

The 105th act of a classic
Derby time: Dominic Green vs. Arvydas Gydra (r.)
Image: Swans/Kienesberger

“It’s going to be a physical and aggressive series.” Anton Mirolybov, head coach of the OCS Swans Gmunden, expects a hot dance in the basketball play-off semi-finals against the Raiffeisen Flyers Wels, who today (5.30 p.m.) in the first of a maximum of five duels won their first victory above Lake Traunsee since October 10, 2021 long for.

“We’re trying to take the adrenaline and positive emotions from the match against St. Pölten and give the title favorite a big fight,” stressed Wels head coach Sebastian Waser.

Everything is set for a classic that is already in its 105th act. Gmunden, the number one in the “regular season”, not only sees the eternal record with 76:28 successes, this season the “Schwanen” have a snow-white slate against their local rivals (4:0) and not least because of the home advantage and the four days longer regeneration time presumably held all the trumps. Around 1,500 fans are expected in the Raiffeisen-Sportpark today, and game two on Monday (7 p.m.) in the exhibition center promises a “cauldron” with 1,100 eyewitnesses.

There is no better advertisement for the local Superliga. That was also the case in the past. You can’t get more atmosphere than this evergreen, which – albeit under different club names – has been electrifying for a quarter of a century. Gmunden has been a fixed star in the upper house since 1997, the former ABC Wels was already four times vice champion at the end of the 1980s, the successor WBC Kraftwerk Wels 2009 champion. By the way, after a 3-1 win in the final series against the Swans, who have already collected 21 titles (5 times champions, 7 times cups, 9 times Supercup). This year the chance for the triple is alive.

The people of Gmunden surfed in play-off derbies in 2006 (3:1 in the final), 2007 (3:1 in the semifinals), 2008 (3:1 in the quarterfinals), 2012 (3:0 in the semifinals) and 2022 (3:1 in the quarterfinals) on the road to victory. Welser kept the upper hand in 2009 and 2014 (3:2 in the quarterfinals). Now the cards are being reshuffled with twice the best cast.

“We know that we will need a top performance. Anything is possible in the play-offs, we will do our best,” said Wels captain Christian von Fintel. Swans CFO Harald Stelzer not only listens to the tills ringing, but also to his gut feeling. “We have to be careful not to let ourselves be surprised. Normally we should be able to do that, we have that claim. But it won’t be a 3-0 series.”

Source: Nachrichten

Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

Most Read

Latest Posts

E-bike pioneer in Steyr for 15 years

E-bike pioneer in Steyr for 15 years

Nik Etlinger, Silvana Aichinger, Flo Winterleitner, Rainer Aichinger From Rainer Aichinger’s small one-man business, the e-bike expert has grown into a two-wheeler business with ten