We play for our country, our people, Vlade Divac says

Vlade Divac

Paris, France, June 25 (Tanjug)- We are trying to separate sports and politics, but it is true that when we play for our country, it is always with a patriotic feeling, renown Yugoslav and international basketball player Vlade Divac has told the Paris L'Humanite.

Divac said in the interview published Thursday that the victories scored by Yugoslavia at the EuroBasket '99 in France were a consolation for Yugoslavs, but set out that the consolation could not ease the pain of those who had lost their dearest in NATO aggression.

"Both Serbs and ethnic Albanians have suffered in the war and a victory we score can help them a little forget the daily worries, although sport cannot bring back to life those killed," Divac set out.

Commenting the efforts to prevent Yugoslavia's participation in the 31st European basketball championship, Divac sarcastically recalled that Adolf Hitler had refused to shake hands with black athletes at the 1936 Olympic Games.

"What has happened in Kosovo cannot be blamed on the Serbian people," Divac said.