A little rough translation follows: Finland's national basketball team will start in August with the European Championships qualifier. The key player on the national team Petteri Koponen is recovering from a leg stress fracture. Koponen has been on re-convalescence for three months. After the foot stress fracture recovering his health has taken a while, but now the situation appears to be to a good start. "The recovery has advanced well. Next week we will once again take new images (x-ray or MRI), then the situation is known in more detail. Leg feels very good", Koponen said. Finland plays for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers in a tough group. The Finnish opponents are Italy, Israel, Latvia and Montenegro. "It's a really hard group. We have to manage our home games and get a couple of wins away. But I believe that we have a chance at victory in every match", Koponen said. "The Finnish team's strength is playing together on defense rather than attack away. We do not necessarily have the same individual quality as the other teams." Koponen own future team situation will be resolved in July. Koponen will probably play again in Italy next season. Koponen last season played for Serie A team Virtus Bologna.