The American-Croatian Fan Favourite at EuroBasket
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Croatia will be hoping its naturalised American continues his good form today when Croatia meet Lithuania for a place in the EuroBasket (European Championship) final.
Dontaye Draper (29), who lead the assists and steals statistics in the quarter-final against Ukraine, has been a key part of the Croatian side at the tournament, and has quickly become a favourite with the fans. “Draper has been huge for us, he has been the creator we need and when he is going we look unbeatable. Lets hope he continues,” said one Croatian fan ahead of this afternoon’s crunch match. Draper has a mutual respect for the fans, who have turned up in their droves in Slovenia and chanted the house down.
“My favourite chant is the one with alee, alee in it,” said Draper, referring to the well-known Croatia football chant (below) “Bježite ljudi, bježite iz grada”.
The 5’11 tall point guard currently plays for the Spanish league team Real Madrid, after joining from Croatian side Cedevita Zagreb. He was named the Eurocup MVP in 2011. Draper played his first game for the national team in July 2011, shortly after having receiving his Croatian citizenship.
