Serbian player who lost leg to resume basketball career

BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbian international basketball player Natasa Kovacevic is set to make her comeback on Wednesday, November 11 with Red Star Belgrade, 26 months after a traffic accident in which she lost her left leg, the club said.

“She is already regularly training with the team,” a club spokesman told AFP.

“We wait for her Hungarian club (Gyor) to send us a document that officially discharges her from obligations towards them so she can play her first match.”

Kovacevic also awaits the arrival of a special prosthesis that will facilitate the continuation of her professional activities, spokesman Igor Vujicin added.

Kovacevic would not comment until returning to competition in Wednesday’s match that starts at 7 pm local time (1800 GMT), he said.

The 21-year-old signed a contract with the Serbian top-flight side earlier this month.

She would become the first disabled European player to play in a professional team, a Serbian Basketball Federation spokesman told AFP.

The 6-foot-1 Kovacevic was one of the most promising players of her generation.

In September 2013, while travelling with Gyor, she was involved in a road accident in Hungary in which the club’s coach and general manager were killed. Kovacevic was seriously injured and had to have her leg amputated.

In 2014, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) appointed Kovacevic as a youth ambassador. – Rappler.com