Goga Bitadze seals EuroLeague basketball series young talent award
Bitadze (right) in action against Anadolu Efes Istanbul during the most recent EuroLeague season. Photo: Buducnost Podgorica.
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Young basketball player Goga Bitadze collected the EuroLeague Rising Star Trophy, an award distinguishing brightest new talent in Europe's major tournament, on Saturday.
Bitadze, 19, was one of prize-winners of the EuroLeague Awards Ceremony, where honours were handed out following another season of the continental competition.
The young centre, who plays for Buducnost Podgorica, collected the award from two-time EuroLeague-winning coach Dusan Ivkovic on stage and offered his reaction to the honour.
I just want to say to the young kids out there that anything is possible. I wasn't expecting to even play in EuroLeague and now getting this trophy is an amazing feeling for me," Bitadze told an audience celebrating the awards.
EuroLeague ran a spotlight feature on Bitadze and his team earlier this year, in which the player's rise to the tournament was described as an "explosion".
Reviewers praised the young Georgian for "turning heads almost every time he steps on the basketball court" in the episode.
Authors of the feature told viewers about Bitadze who left Georgia at the age of 16 to join Bemax Belgrade, a Serbian club, before leading the team to a EuroLeague Basketball Next Generation Tournament final.
The teenage athlete has since represented Buducnost, a club competing in the Montenegrin Basketball League, Adriatic League and EuroLeague.
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