26 Feb 2025 16:30:00 GMT?.css-1txiau5-AnswerContainer{color:var(--GlobalColorScheme-Text-secondaryText2);}Kisvarda won 3–0 over SC Sopron on Wed Predicted lineups are available for the match a few days in advance while the actual lineup will be available about an hour ahead of the match Who won between SC Sopron and Kisvarda on Wed 26 Feb 2025 16:30:00 GMT?Kisvarda won 3–0 over SC Sopron on Wed 26 Feb 2025 16:30:00 GMT.InsightsHaven't lost in 5 matches SC Sopron is playing home against Kisvarda on Wed By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org The Williamsburg yeshivas were penalized after ignoring requests from the state education department to enter a remediation process The New York State Education Department is cutting off public funding to two Brooklyn yeshivas and ordering parents to find alternative educational arrangements for their children next year citing the schools’ failure to meet secular education standards It’s the most significant set of consequences faced by any school in the ongoing fight between education officials and Hasidic institutions in New York over laws requiring that yeshivas meet standards in core subjects like English and math the halls of government and the public square this is the first time the state has effectively closed a Hasidic school the center of the city’s Satmar Hasidic community They are Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel of Sopron which runs schools in two locations for different age groups They were notified of the enforcement decisions on Feb 11 after ignoring final warnings issued in December appropriate education setting” for their children and report their choice to authorities according to a letter template that the Department of Education provided to the yeshivas for distribution Three options were listed: a different religious school notes that the yeshivas will not receive public funds for child nutrition programs Talmud Torah of Kasho did not return a request for comment the principal of Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel of Sopron said in a reply to an email from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency “We are not doing anything illegal.” She did not respond to follow-up questions Following the Times investigation, in 2023, education officials found that 18 schools were failing to provide an education “substantially equivalent” to that offered in public schools representing a small fraction of the yeshivas in the city Most agreed to a remediation process — except for the two now facing penalties Haredi Orthodox leaders have long characterized government enforcement of secular standards as an attack on their community and an encroachment on their right to raise their children according to religious traditions while defending their education system as rigorous and superior Several advocacy groups that typically defend yeshiva education in the media did not respond to requests for comment or declined to say anything about the case many of whom were raised in haredi families and attended yeshivas One of the leading groups behind the effort is Young Advocates for Fair Education which informed JTA and other media outlets about the enforcement notices after a private briefing with the education department “These letters are an unprecedented and long-overdue action to ensure that all children receive the education they are entitled to under New York State law,” Adina Mermelstein Konikoff “Children in these schools are denied a basic education receiving little to no instruction in secular subjects leaving them unprepared for life after graduation.” Yeshiva education has become a salient issue in New York politics and may rise in prominence as the city heads toward June’s Democratic mayoral primary in which Hasidic voters could be a significant factor And the state’s decision comes as Mayor Eric Adams faces mounting calls to resign over his indictment for corruption which the Trump administration is seeking to dismiss Adams has defended yeshiva education in the past. In 2023, he said yeshivas “are providing a quality education that is embracing our children,” and called on other schools to “learn what you are doing in the yeshivas to improve education.”  One of the candidates challenging him, by contrast, Comptroller Brad Lander, said in 2021 regarding yeshivas that all schools “have an obligation to deliver substantially comparable and competent secular education especially where the city is contracting with those schools for transportation and books.” The government’s authority to order parents to withdraw their children from noncompliant schools is being challenged in court by Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools a trial court ruled that the state had overstepped its authority but an appeals court overturned the decision The case is now set for review by New York’s highest court PEARLS did not respond to a request for comment on the state education department’s order a week before the new Trump administration took office PEARLS filed a federal discrimination complaint against city and state education agencies on behalf of four yeshivas The complaint outlines a series of actions by the agencies that allegedly interfere with the schools’ autonomy in curriculum and hiring these discriminatory practices would strip the Yeshivas of their essential Jewish character,” the complaint says Department of Education’s civil rights office has yet to announce an investigation into the allegations in the complaints but the Trump administration previously stated that it would prioritize both religious liberty protections and combating antisemitism in its education policies JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent I accept the Privacy Policy. The Hungarian state has received approval from the Austrian competition authority to acquire Strabag’s stake in the Győr–Sopron–Ebenfurth Railway (GySEV), Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár announced on his Facebook page. Since Strabag has previously stated that it does not consider its stake in the railway company a strategic investment and is willing to sell it, the last obstacle has been removed for the Hungarian state to further increase its ownership in GySEV. János Lázár recalled that the Hungarian state had already been the majority owner of the company, which also has the Austrian state as a shareholder. However, under a contract signed by previous left-wing governments, the Austrian state retained its veto power in the company, despite the Hungarian state investing increasing amounts of money into it, while the Austrians failed to meet their capital contribution obligations. Nevertheless, Hungarian influence in the company did not increase. Újabb kétharmad! Végre a helyére kerülhetnek a Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút Zrt-ben a tulajdoni arányok és így a cég vezetése is. Miénk lehet a döntő szó. A cégben már eddig is többségi tulajdoni… According to the minister, the national government did not accept that Hungarians would be a minority in their own company. That is why Prime Minister Viktor Orbán tasked János Lázár with addressing the situation. The minister noted that the company would remain joint, as the Austrian state would continue to be a minority shareholder, which János Lázár personally welcomes, expressing his belief in all forms of Central European cooperation. However, from now on, Hungary will have the decisive say in the railway company, as the Hungarian state’s share will increase to 71.7 per cent with the acquisition of Strabag’s 6.13 per cent stake, thus restoring ownership rights. According to the minister, the transaction is good news for all passengers and employees of the Hungarian railway, as GySEV’s development, achieved with Hungarian taxpayer money, will now significantly contribute to the advancement of Hungarian State Railways (MÁV). While the post does not disclose the price of Strabag’s share package, December media reports mentioned a 10 million euro offer. Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective. A new, state-of-the-art zero magnetic field laboratory is about to open in the Northwestern city of Sopron, Hungary. According to a Facebook post by the HUN-REN Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science, the new facility is entering its test phase within a few weeks. The project is done in collaboration with the HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, and with funding from a grant from the government’s Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme. Hangolás fázisban a Mágneses Nulltér Laboratórium Heteken belül kísérleti fázisba lép a HUN-REN soproni Földfizikai és Űrtudományi Kutatóintézet (FI) és a HUN-REN Wigner FK közös projektjében… HUN-REN’s official website writes this about the new lab: ‘The laboratory aims to create an electromagnetically “clean” laboratory chamber, in which the static and variable geomagnetic field can be compensated, and by the efficient shielding of the remaining field, the Earth’s magnetic field can be reduced by about five orders of magnitude. Thus, a magnetic environment, typical for interplanetary space, can be created.’ The Facebook announcement goes on to write that ‘The laboratory, which is the only one of its kind in the world to exclude the effects of magnetic fields, can help in space developments, medical diagnostics innovations, biophysics and materials science experiments.’ HUN-REN is a national research network, created by an act of the National Assembly of Hungary on 1 August 2019. It comprises eleven research centres and seven research institutes, of which the Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science, which just made the exciting announcement of their new facility, is one. MUNICH (Germany) - It was a landmark night for Villeneuve d'Ascq LM as they made the EuroCup Women Final for a third time with a win-double against Sopron Basket while this season's newcomers BAXI Ferrol took a Final ticket at their first attempt This season's rookies eliminated EuroCup Women frontrunners LDLC ASVEL Feminin despite a loss on French soil advancing courtesy of last week's huge home victory The Finals will take place across two legs and will be played on Wednesday Having won on their road trip to Hungary last week in the first leg of the Semi-Final, Villeneuve d'Ascq LM finished the job in the second meeting with a hard-fought 54-46 triumph that handed them a 127-112 aggregate win they kept their opponents at arms' length and were again grateful to another impressive effort from Aminata Gueye The forward came to the party again and finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds while young Carla Leite continued to enhance her growing reputation with a 15-point haul ASVEL completed a 74-63 second leg Semi-Finals success against Ferrol after a dominant display from teenage sensation Dominique Malonga, but still exited the competition 156-136 on aggregate. Losing the first leg by an eye-popping 31 points, it always looked like a mountain for the French side and so it proved. That was despite Malonga finishing the contest with a big double-double of 22 points and 18 rebounds, as well as Laura Quevedo harvesting 23 points and 10 boards. Ferrol were fuelled by Claire Melia and Blanca Millan again, with the duo sharing 26 points and making sure their team kept rolling and didn't reach the danger zone of giving up a huge first leg advantage. SOPRON (FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2018) - There was double cause for Iris Mbulito to celebrate at the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship after she added the MVP title to her winners medal Having scored the game-winning basket in the pivotal 50-51 win during the Quarter-Finals against France Mbulito then did even better in the title game For all the other news, head to our Live Updates page. Japan and Spain in Sopron which means this FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament is going to be a truly monumental battle SOPRON (Hungary) - On paper there's very little to separate Canada Japan and Spain in Sopron which means this FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament is going to be a truly monumental battle This could be controversial in itself of course, since Spain didn't even feature at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 after missing out and also were pipped to FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 silverware last year by Belgium their re-boot in the wake of a disappointing 2021 and their change of coach to Miguel Mendez feels like it is now ready to bear fruit very tough and any team could finish top of the group because there could be potentially so many close games They have that well-respected play-caller; they have experience with veteran heads like Alba Torrens Laura Gil and Silvia Dominguez; they have dynamic players like Maria Conde and Queralt Casas - plus slightly younger stars establishing themselves now like Raquel Carerra and Maite Cazorla By bringing in Megan Gustafson into their roster they have addressed the gap in their armory which was a soft center under the paint at both ends of the floor we can maybe call Spain very slight favorites and yet the crazy nature of this 'Group of Death' means to not be shocked if they finish last either Even with an important home advantage and with an ever-improving team good coach and their best finish at a FIBA Women's EuroBasket in recent memory last year you have to label Hungary as the underdogs They have a great chance to advance in this super-tough group if they play to their potential stay composed and deal with the intensity of this rare walk on the global stage It feels like this is going to be a mental challenge as much as a basketball one that is absolutely certain and on paper there could be some very close games since Hungary have some excellent ballers all over the court considering the pedigree that the other three nations have at the top level in recent years Hungary simply have to accept this underdog label - and now turn it into a positive Spain were Olympic runners-up at Rio 2016, Japan were Olympic runners-up at Tokyo 2020 while Canada made the Semi-Finals of the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 This could be interesting because there are so many different considerations You can argue that Canada might be a little under-cooked with several of their big-hitters not playing top-level club basketball this current season Will that mean Kia Nurse and Natalie Achonwa for example will not be quite as sharp will they be more rested than everyone else and be an even bigger asset than normal Hungary have the size to match up quite well with Canada who are likely to be the tallest and most physical under the basket but while Achonwa and Kayla Alexander look to do their thing the host nation have so many choices with Bernadett Hatar You can also throw into the mix the fact that it is on day one of the competition or will Hungary suffer from opening night nerves In the past three years, we have seen many different faces of Japan. From their almost indescribable brilliance in capturing that historic silver medal at the Tokyo Games, to their failure to even make the Quarter-Finals at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 and last year relinquishing their FIBA Women's Asia Cup title to fierce rivals, China.  MUNICH (Germany) - Surprise package BAXI Ferrol showed no signs of slowing down in their pursuit of EuroCup Women silverware in their first ever season after jumping all over LDLC ASVEL Feminin in the first leg of their Semi-Finals matchup there was better news for French basketball as Villeneuve d'Ascq LM grabbed a handy seven point advantage against Sopron Basket for next weeks second meeting The second leg games will take place next week on Thursday ASVEL have come from behind in many games this season but it will take something seriously special to take down Ferrol after the Spanish rookies produced their best display of the season to claim a stunning 93-62 first leg triumph In one of the biggest shocks in memory in terms of the size of victory the newcomers will feel they already have one foot in the Final Ireland national team powerhouse Claire Melia had her best game of the campaign and that paced the win She recorded 27 points and was supported by Blanca Millan with 18 points ASVEL had Dominique Malonga and Dayshanette Harris scoring 17 and 15 points respectively but the team shot poorly from long-range making just 4 of 25 attempts They may have had a slow start on the road in Hungary, but Villeneuve d'Ascq LM were cooking by the last quarter as a late surge handed them a precious 73-66 first leg victory. A seven point lead and home court advantage will make them favorites to now finish the job and make the Final. Inflicting only a second home loss of the campaign on Sopron, the visitors showed their teeth defensively and inside, shooting a super 63 percent from two-point range. Experienced campaigner Shavonte Zellous produced another all-action effort with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, while fellow veteran Jelena Brooks just about kept Sopron in the tie with 18 points and 6 steals. A sensational last 38-19 period for Ferrol put them onto the front foot against BDS Dinamo Sassari as they racked up a stellar 95-76 success. There had been little suggestion either of these clubs who had to both come through the Qualifiers, would snap the contest open. But out of nowhere and fuelled by an eventual 22 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists from Noa Morro who shot 75 percent from the field, the visitors hit the gas and roared away. MVP for January Angela Mataix continued her rich vein of form with 19 points. Shaylee Gonzales had 22 points in defeat. Young guard Carla Leite underlined her potential once again with another dazzling display for Villeneuve d'Ascq as her 28-point show paced her team's eye-catching 91-72 win at Besiktas JK. Dropping 18 of her tally before the break, it put the visitors in the driving seat and they stayed there for the remainder of the contest. With Aminata Gueye bringing the noise in the paint with a powerful double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, it looks a long way back for Besiktas. Only Holly Winterburn with 24 points and Elif Bayram with 12 points and 12 boards found any kind of form. Montenegro national team forward Natasha Mack was a colossus for Spar Girona as they came out on top 77-72 in a wonderful roller-coaster game against LDLC ASVEL Feminin. Her contribution of 21 points, 13 rebounds and a spectacular 6 blocks was the pivotal contribution in an absorbing game. Ahead by 18 points, Girona has ASVEL on the ropes, but their French opponents not only wiped out that lead with a brilliant rescue mission, but even took the lead in the later stages. But the final punch was landed by Girona who scored the last 5 points of the contest. Teenage duo Juste Jocyte and Dominique Malonga excelled for ASVEL as they recorded 21 and 23 points, with the latter also claiming a double-double after hauling down 10 rebounds. It's turning into a memorable season for Sopron after they sailed past BLMA on home soil with a fabulous 81-54 victory that sees them take a major step in the direction of the Semi-Finals. The Hungarian side erupted in the second period 27-16 and were in the box-seat from that point onwards. BLMA couldn't handle their aggressive approach, ball movement and incredible three-point shooting. They made a staggering 14 shots from downtown, with Zala Friskovec top-scoring after sinking 19 points and knocking down five of those triples. Meanwhile Stephanie Reid caught the eye with an excellent 13 points and 12 assists. PreviewSopron (FIBA U18 Women's European Championship 2017) - Hungary will be looking for a strong start in front of their home crowd when they play Turkey on Day 1 Sopron (FIBA U18 Women's European Championship 2017) - Hosts Hungary will be aiming for a successful start to the tournament when they play Turkey on Day 1 Hungary will be hoping to be inspired by their home crowd in a bid for a podium finish but are set for a potentially tricky first-up encounter against Turkey in Group B action.  reigning champions France will open their title defense against Belgium who loom as a dark horse after impressively finishing sixth last year.  the talent-laden Spain are one of the tournament's fancies and will be hoping to live up to that lofty billing when they face the newly-promoted Sweden Russia and Lithuania are two teams expected to figure deep into the tournament making their match-up on Day 1 an intriguing affair rivals Croatia and Serbia will battle in Group A action.  Buoyed by several players winning a historic silver medal in the recent FIBA U20 Women's European Championship a confident Slovenia will look to continue the goodwill when they face the Czech Republic on Day 1.  while Italy plays Bosnia and Herzegovina.  You can follow Live Updates throughout each game day, watch all the games for free on the FIBA YouTube Channel and follow #FIBAU18Europe across all social media.  Sweden v Spain Slovenia v Czech Republic  Greece v Latvia  Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy  Serbia v Croatia  Hungary v Turkey Russia v Lithuania  France v Belgium  The games will be played on Thursday, March 6 and Thursday, March 13 with the full schedule available, here. Could we see a second EuroCup Women title in three editions for ASVEL? They've now eliminated other big-hitters Galatasaray and Girona and have the incredible teenage duo of Dominque Malonga and Juste Jocyte on form. But while favorites, the Cinderella story of rookies BAXI Ferrol shows no signs of ending. Navigating the Qualifiers, the likes of Angela Mataix and Gala Mestres are still balling out, so perhaps another big upset could be incoming! Key matchup: Claire Melia (BAXI Ferrol) vs Dominique Malonga (LDLC ASVEL Feminin) but who has the best chance of landing the MVP award SOPRON (Hungary) - There have been some exceptional performances at the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship but who of the many outstanding players in Sopron has the best chance of landing the MVP award The official accolades in the shape of the All-Star Five and MVP will be handed out after the Final of the competition you also have the opportunity to give a big thumbs up to your favorite player Federal President Frank‑Walter Steinmeier traveled to Sopron The purpose of the Federal President’s first trip to Hungary was to mark the 35th anniversary of the Pan-European Picnic when hundreds of citizens from the former GDR used the temporary opening of the border between Hungary and Austria to flee to the West The event is viewed as the first tear in the Iron Curtain and it is a milestone on the path to the fall of the Berlin Wall the Federal President payed tribute to the accomplishments and courage of the citizens of Hungary who back then contributed to the unification of Europe People who were present at the Pan-European Picnic and young members of the German-Hungarian Youth Office accompanied the Federal President on his trip Steinmeier met with the President of Hungary both Presidents spoke with participants of the German-Hungarian Summer Academy which was organised by the German-Hungarian Youth Office and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e After a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument in Fertőrákos to the Germans who were forcibly deported from Hungary the main ceremony took place at the Pan-European Picnic Memorial Park in Sopron Both the Federal President and President Sulyok spoke at the event which included a joint wreath-laying ceremony and a meeting with people who participated in the Picnic and with young people On the 35th anniversary of the Pan-European Picnic Federal President Steinmeier thanked the Hungarians for their commitment to a … https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/EN/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/2024/240819-hungary-sopron.html on the 80th anniversary of a referendum held in 1921 in the Western Hungarian town of Sopron was selected to mark the Day of Loyalty the residents of Sopron voted to remain part of Hungary rather than join Austria thereby gaining the name Civitas Fidelissima The Trianon Peace treaty that was signed on 4 June 1920 and which ended World War I awarded Sopron and the neighbouring villages to Austria the Hungarian forces had mostly left the region surrendering it to the incoming Austrian troops the Austrian army met with the unexpected opposition of young university students who took up arms to reject the imposition of Austrian rule The town successfully resisted multiple attempts of occupation by the Austrian army Hungary and Austria—with Italian mediation—sat down to negotiate the fate of Sopron According to the agreement reached on 13 October 1921 Hungarian forces withdrew from the region until the residents themselves could decide about the fate of their town in a free and fair referendum Referenda were held not only in Sopron but in neighbouring localities as well deciding over the fate of a 257 square metre territory Men and women above 20 years of age were eligible to vote if they had been born in the region or had been living there since December 1918 Voters received an envelope with a blue slip of paper with the word ‘Hungary’ written on it and an orange piece of paper with the word ‘Austria’ written on it Those who wished to vote for Hungary had to tear the orange slip of paper into pieces and put the pieces as well as the intact blue paper back into the envelope and seal it Even though a significant proportion of the residents of Sopron spoke German as their mother tongue As many as 72.8 per cent voted for remaining part of Hungary while if the neighbouring localities are taken into account as well the percentage of pro-Hungary votes was 65.1 per cent the home village to the great Hungarian statesmen István Széchenyi over 90 per cent of the population chose Hungary honouring the memory of the exceptional aristocrat who had dedicated his entire life to his country The participation rate was record high all across the Sopron region: 89.5 per cent of eligible voters cast their vote Respecting the will of the people as clearly expressed in the referendum Sopron and the majority of the neighbouring region were handed back to Hungary The town’s loyalty to the motherland is celebrated annually on this day The Sopron archives also played a role in convincing the population that Austria had no claim for the city a book was published by the archives which included the oldest available documents issued to the town between 1162 to 1406 The book gathered 371 historical documents to demonstrate the town’s thousand-year-old history in Hungary 166 were issued by Hungarian kings and only four by Austrian rulers—the numbers left no doubt that Sopron’s historical heritage was part of that of the Kingdom of Hungary The residents of Sopron were also reminded of 1273 when the king of Bohemia and Duke of Austria but the population resisted the invading army For the bravery and loyalty of the people of Sopron the town was awarded the status of a free royal city by Ladislaus IV of Hungary in 1277 Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective You can read this article in 3 minutesPölös Zsófia Due to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease several minor Hungarian–Slovak and Hungarian–Austrian border crossings have been closed Traffic at the main crossing points is still permitted Photo credits @ Polícia Slovenskej republiky via Facebook To contain the spread of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease Slovakia has introduced temporary border controls on its internal borders with Hungary and Austria from 8 April to 7 May 2025 The measure affects both passenger and freight traffic: 16 minor border crossings on the Slovak–Hungarian border and 20 – mostly low-traffic – crossings on the Austrian–Hungarian border have been closed According to the Hungarian Road Transport Association (MKFE), the Slovak government made the decision on 7 April, after new infection clusters were identified in the regions of Bratislava, Trnava and Nitra. These restrictions have already been in place since 26 March on the Hungarian side of the Danube but the continued spread of the disease has led to a tightening of the measures the following Slovak–Hungarian crossings have been completely closed: Border crossing points closed by the Slovak Republic from 8 April to 7 May 2025 – source: police.hu In addition, Austrian authorities have imposed restrictions on the Austrian–Hungarian border from 5 April Border crossing points closed by the Republic of Austria as from 5 April 2025 – source: police.hu The police statement lists a total of twenty-one Austrian–Hungarian border crossings that have been closed Traffic is still permitted at the main border crossings according to road information service Útinform and the national police (ORFK) travellers should expect longer waiting times due to vehicle disinfection procedures Authorities urge both commuters and other travellers to check the latest updates before setting off and The official police website is being updated continuously with the latest information on border traffic Agnieszka Kulikowska - Wielgus Journalist Trans.info | 6.05.2025 Pölös Zsófia Journalist Trans.info | 5.05.2025 Fragrance on the Fly: Why Pocket Perfumes Are Perfect for Airplane TravelSponsored Article 6.05.2025 By Antonio Losada And the coaching carousel in Istanbul keeps spinning News from the EuroLeague keeps popping up on our timelines and we’re keeping an eye on those developments to bring you the latest news about the top overseas competition Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers Join today We kicked things off last week with our first batch of EuroLeague offseason news at The Next and it’s time for another round of headlines as we approach the summer and American players hooping abroad finish their seasons in Europe and rejoin their WNBA franchises If this is not the absolute biggest news of the offseason — no matter what happens in the next few months — then I don’t even know Williams, the Final Four MVP and a reigning EuroLeague champion with Sopron, is moving to France, where she has dual citizenship, next season. LDLC Asvel Feminin is getting Williams after her two-year run with Sopron came to a fairytale end this year Williams had previously won the Hungarian league last season with Sopron Williams’ overseas career has outpaced what she’s accomplished in the WNBA the EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year award All-EuroLeague First Team honors last season Although January will play for the Seattle Storm this season she’s called it quits when it comes to overseas basketball January announced her retirement from European competition after accomplishing the ultimate feat with Sopron last season: winning the EuroLeague after a nine-year overseas career that started back in 2009 — her WNBA rookie year — in Turkey January was phenomenal for Sopron last season She played 13 games over the regular season and the playoffs; scored 10 or more points in eight of those matches; and averaged 10.3 points But Sopron might not miss January too much come next season. Don’t get me wrong, though: That has less to do with January retiring than with the player already signed to replace her, Courtney Vandersloot This is quite an impactful move in EuroLeague basketball but it shouldn’t really come as a surprise given the geopolitical situation involving Russia FIBA removed Russian teams from the postseasons of all European competitions so both UMMC Ekaterinburg and Dynamo Kursk were automatically eliminated That had a massive impact on more than a few WNBA imports After winning the 2021 WNBA championship with the Chicago Sky Vandersloot moved over to Russia to play for UMMC in the late stages of the season But Vandersloot only appeared in four EuroLeague games before FIBA made its decision With the Russian teams’ future up in the air it makes sense for Vandersloot to look for some security and move to the Hungarian side Sopron Washington) has also held Hungarian citizenship since 2016 That is not uncommon among imports because there is a limit on foreigners on EuroLeague rosters With Williams’ departure and January’s retirement Vandersloot will step straight into one of the two starting guard positions for the Hungarian side 🙏 Teşekkürler Efe Güven🔗 https://t.co/utVre7buDv pic.twitter.com/1voJKO1oGp What started in Istanbul with Fenerbahçe moving on from head coach Victor Lapeña continued in … Istanbul Galatasaray parted ways with its head coach Efe Guven at the end of April a homegrown coach who started as an assistant in the youth setup of the Turkish national team and then Galatasaray Guven hasn’t been the worst of coaches in Turkey but he’s fallen short of expectations which were to bring Galatasaray back to its early-2010s heights Those were always going to be lofty standards even more so with powerhouse Fenerbahçe playing basketball in the same city but the coach could only carry the team to one bronze medal (last season) in four years He also finished second in the Turkish league in the 2021 season but those are the two highest points at the national and international levels for him and Galatasaray The team was loaded with talent and should have reached higher achievements Sopron Basket 2022/2023@EuroLeagueWomen @Hunbasket1 pic.twitter.com/TnX2TZHwUr Our first overseas news update a week ago had a lot to do with USK Praha the team unveiled its full 2022-23 roster a week ago That’s a monster haul for the champions and all of the moves are sounding like Sopron building another title contender one of only two players to put up at least 14 points five rebounds and four dimes per game last season but she missed ample time through the postseason She played only 10 minutes against Fenerbahçe in the semi-final game and 21 minutes against Avenida in the third-place game Stankovic was her best at the start of the regular season scoring 13 or more points in four of the first eight games and never fewer than eight points who is currently playing for the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA played overseas in Australia in 2021-22 for the first time in her career 4.9 rebounds and 2.5 steals in around 32 minutes per game She had previously played for Turkish sides Ormanspor and CBK Mersin International freelance writer covering the WNBA overseas. Bylines at places, touching different bases. Always open to discussion over @chapulana || Full portfolio You must be logged in to post a comment Contact Us About Us Privacy Policy We have upgraded our membership system.Please check your mailbox for a secure link to sign in and set up a new password If you have any question or need help, please email editors@thenexthoops.org all of it to host the Final of the 2022 edition of the EuroLeague Women on Istanbul’s soil… and all of it for nothing That’s Turkish side Fenerbahçe’s season in a nutshell the Hungarians of Sopron have every single reason to celebrate what they just achieved as Fenerbahçe entering Sunday’s final a never-has team when it came to lifting the ELW trophy You can check what went down in the first sudden-death round of the postseason by reading that post were both part of this season’s Group B through the regular-season 14-game schedule put up a dominating 11-3 record without losing a single game from Week 7 winning out their last 12 games (regular season + postseason) leading up to the final did so with a lower .571 winning percentage and a much-balanced 8-6 record that tied with those of two other teams in regular-season play Sopron finished the regular season losing two in a row though they quickly fixed their problems and sailed through the final with 2-0 and 1-0 series wins against BLMA and Avenida The outcome can’t be seen as a ridiculous upset but the fact that Sopron has been a fantastic team all year long can’t be refuted Did the Russian teams open a huge door to the likes of Sopron and Fenerbahçe to make the final — the Final Four even —after getting removed from the postseason But it’d be naive to come up with excuses just to build an unreasonable case against Fenerbahçe’s and Sopron’s exploits both finalists could field every single one of their players for as many minutes as they wished as none of them came hampered by injuries or other maladies So we got our fair share of superstars doing it at the upper-echelon and brightest of stages overseas could have finished the game right then and there like they did against Avenida in the semifinals They missed a bunch of shots themselves and couldn’t build an insurmountable lead even given a fantastic chance to do so even though Fenerbahçe made the contest a one-point affair four minutes into the third Neither team shot above 37% with both attempting virtually the same amount of shots (59 and 62 field-goal attempts) That is what the final scoreboard of 60-55 truly conveys: a very tight affair Let’s highlight one and only one name: Gabby Williams If you don’t remember what took place two days before the grand finale when Sopron defeated Avenida it was truly Jelena Brook’s show back then Williams was good enough to leave her imprint in that game with a 13-point three-steal outing shooting 43% from the field and hitting her lone three-point attempt Gabby Williams closed Sunday’s match with 16 points She also had another 50% shooting night (7-of-14) while dropping one of the five long-range shots she went for And she was a freaking octopus multiplying her presence on the court applying the toughest defense we’ve seen all year long in Europe and turning into a walking wall that Fenerbahçe never found a way to overcome No player from Fenerbahçe except Cakir shot above 50% from the field No player other than Iagupova attempted more than 10 shots and that was a mixed blessing — 4-of-18 from the field and 0-for-10 from the arc for 13 points Elizabeth Williams showcased her all-defensive talents with eight rebounds Kayla McBride had an afternoon to forget with a minus-15 plus/minus in 23 minutes in which all she could do was go 1-of-10 from the field for two points over the full game Satou Sabally was good but not great and Zahui B (the semifinals heroine) finished the game frustrated yet with the second-best efficiency (10) among players from the Turkish side and Zsofia Fegyverneky had a really strong 12-point Sopron dropped a final as recently as 2018 Fenerbahçe also reached the last game of the season just one year before yet the Turkish didn’t have enough to defeat Dynamo Kursk back then nor could they crack the postseason for final appearances in 2016 and 2021 (both 3rd-place finishes) Congratulations to Sopron for becoming the first-ever Hungarian team to lift the biggest of Euro Crowns With Maria Conde out for the day after getting injured in the semifinal match against Fenerbahçe Praha opted to run a six-woman rotation in this game because the 12-point win was as solid as they get But to think Praha stood a chance against the Spaniards using just six players — of which five played 33 or more minutes and four topped 35 — is just crazy Although Avenida welcomed Katie Lou Samuelson back in time for the semifinal game the younger of the Samuelson sisters arrived for good against Praha Samuelson scored 25 points to go with four rebounds and a couple of dimes in a 28-efficiency effort that thrust Avenida toward the bronze medals Brionna Jones (26-point, 11-rebound double-double) and Alyssa Thomas (seven points three steals) played to extraordinary levels on Sunday but they were too careless with the ball Veronika Vorackova was the best player for Praha and Maria Fasoula in their 73 accrued minutes of playing time Kahleah Copper had a bitter send-off scoring only six points (though she added eight rebounds and five assists) and getting injured while wrapping up her European tour in between the 2021 and 2022 WNBA seasons “She’ll be fine,” Chicago Sky head coach James Wade told The Next “It was just an awkward fall but she will be fine.” Bella Alarie was good for six points, three rebounds, two blocks, and one steal. 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Life Kit offers practical advice on things in life no one prepared you for Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX Reveal is public radio’s first one-hour radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting A weekly program presented by the New Yorker magazine’s editor killer beats and the edgiest new talent in storytelling come together for a weekly show that straps audiences into an audio rollercoaster Radiolab is known for its deep-dive journalism and innovative sound design Created in 2002 by former host Jad Abumrad the program began as an exploration of scientific inquiry Over the years it has evolved to become a platform for long-form journalism and storytelling Radiolab is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser Patricia Sopron talks to reporters about the pending release from prison of her son whose conviction for ordering a 1995 gang shooting that left two 13-year-old girls dead Matthew Sopron walked out of Stateville Prison Tuesday afternoon a free man — just hours after Cook County prosecutors dropped murder charges against him after witnesses admitted to lying on the stand during his trial had smiled as he walked past a courtroom gallery overflowing with supporters Tuesday morning Gasps and sniffling filled the room as Assistant State’s Attorney Carol Rogala asked Judge Timothy Joyce to vacate Sopron’s conviction for a 1995 gang shooting that killed two eighth-grade girls said in the courthouse lobby after the hearing “How many years that the lies never matched up we heard the same exact words [from each witness] Matt Sopron’s convictions were vacated today. All charges were dismissed. After spending 21 years in prison for a crime he never committed, he was set free to reunite with his family. 23 years of work and today this happened. @FreeMattSopron pic.twitter.com/fztMuZZdat The decision by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office comes after two days of testimony on a motion for a new trial — hearings that ended on Dec 23 years to the day that Carrie Hovel and Helena Martin were killed by a volley of bullets fired by 15-year-old Eric Anderson Anderson testified for the first time that he barely knew Sopron and that no one ordered him to target the van in which Martin and Hovel were riding in with members of a rival gang Three other witnesses who testified at Sopron’s trial had previously recanted testimony that Sopron was a leader of a South Side faction of the Almighty Popes street gang Sopron and co-defendant Wayne Antusas were arrested nine months after the shooting after one of Anderson’s teenage co-defendants named them as a Popes leaders who had ordered the younger members to “light up” the van maintained his innocence at trial and his family has rallied behind him for a decades-long series of appeals social media outreach and even to pay for a billboard along the Stevenson Expressway emblazoned with the words “Free Matt Sopron.” “Every witness who testified against him now has said that he lied,” Walsh said “I thought I won every day of the trial [in 1998] Sopron and Antusas both were sentenced to life in prison though Antusas’ punishment was reduced last year to 54 years following a U.S Supreme Court decision that banned life sentences for defendants sentenced as minors sister and attorney joined Sopron’s supporters in the courtroom and said they would seek to have his conviction overturned as well said he learned that prosecutors would drop the case against Sopron Tuesday morning at the courthouse and he and his family opted not to sit in the courtroom gallery Prosecutors “just told us they didn’t have the evidence to go forward,” he said noting that he and his family attended re-sentencing hearings earlier this year when Anderson’s life sentence was lowered to 60 years “I would never want this feeling to be on my worst enemy Hovel sat through Sopron and Antusas’ trial but wasn’t able to get time off from work to hear the testimony in Sopron’s post-conviction hearing last week they’re saying this was what happened,” he said that would let their friend sit in jail for [two decades].” Terms of Use • Privacy Notice • Cookie Policy • Terms of Sale having had their place confirmed thanks to Spain's win against hosts Hungary at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Sopron SOPRON (Hungary) - Canada will appear at Paris 2024 after all having had their place confirmed thanks to Spain's win against hosts Hungary at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Sopron It had looked like Canada might have blown their chances when they went down in absorbing 86-82 clash with Japan That meant a nervous wait and watching the already qualified Spain go up against Hungary Spain eventually came out with a big favor as they claimed a victory and that now means Canada will go the big show for an 8th time the pivotal question arises: Will Canada make the most of their second chance and make a medal push in Paris Appearances: 7 - 1976 (6th); 1984 (4th); 1996 (11th); 2000 (10th); 2012 (8th); 2016 (7th); 2020 (9th)Medals: 0 Canada hosted the first ever Games back in 1976 in Montreal - although it was a mixed experience after not managing to grind out a single win This will be the fourth time in a row Canada will appear - something they have never done previously. Their best finish was in 1984 when they made the Semi-Finals and last time out in Tokyo 2020 it felt like they missed an opportunity after not reaching the Quarter-Finals as expected  before the event.   celebrating the club's maiden title in front of an impressive crowd of 9,500 at the Ulker Sports Arena in Istanbul ISTANBUL (Turkey) - Sopron Basket have been crowned the new EuroLeague Women champions celebrating the club's maiden title in front of an impressive crowd of 9,500 at the Ulker Sports Arena in Istanbul The perennial champions of Hungary made history with a 60-55 triumph over Final Four hosts Fenerbahce Safiport in Sunday’s title-decider to become the first Hungarian club to win the competition Playing in their fourth consecutive Final Four Sopron had reached the Final only on one previous occasion The only other Hungarian team to reach this stage of the competition are 1979 runners-up BSE ESMA Budapest Gabby Williams played a big role in the Semi-Final victory against Perfumerias Avenida and delivered 16 points 4 rebounds and 4 steals in the Final to claim the Final Four MVP honors last season's runners-up Perfumerias Avenida finished their EuroLeague Women campaign on a winning note as they beat ZVVZ USK Praha 71-59 to secure a third-place finish Kékfrankos wines can range from medium-bodied rich and bold showstoppers,” writes Longhi Sopron is arguably one of Hungary’s most intriguing wine regions it claims to be the oldest wine region in Hungary with roots dating back several thousand years It was the Romans afterwards who established Sopron’s (then ‘Scarbantia’) viticultural traditions which set the scene for Sopron wine to become one of Hungary’s most valued exports up until the end of the 18th century Sopron wine was such hot property that it was kept within the city walls rather than in the cellars in the vineyards because of theft would be guarded with a soldier who would alarm the town if an outsider was on the approach with barrels It’s not only historical richness that draws wine lovers to Sopron Sopron shares both a border and a language with Austria (German is spoken and also written on traffic and street signs) a culture (it’s the only place in Hungary where some wine taverns are called ‘Buschenschank’) Austria’s Blaufränkisch is Hungary’s Kékfrankos which accounts for two thirds of Sopron’s plantings A continuation of the ‘sub-alpine’ Austrian landscape which provide a continuous western wind onto the vines Another major climatic influence is Lake Fertő which moderates the temperatures throughout the year with its huge water surface The landscape in Sopron is visibly different to the rest of Hungary but it’s also what is going on beneath the mountains and lakes which sets Sopron apart Bálint Lőrinczy, founder of Steigler Winery in the outskirts of downtown Sopron tells me why the soils of the Fertő area are unique within the whole of Hungary the 20 million-year-old mica schist from the very eastern edge of the Alps met the two-million-year-old sediment from the Pannon Sea This unique blend of soil gives this exciting flavour: mineral are considered to produce the finest Sopron wines but the mountain breezes lower the humidity and keep the air clean and fresh – which is great for healthy grapes these conditions “support organic viticulture,” says Lőrinczy The Sopron wine district was once exclusively associated with white grapes “Once [Furmint] was the main variety of the Sopron region,” says Lőrinczy “which was more known for its white wines than for the red ones After the 19th century it slowly disappeared from the region.” Zöld Veltelini (Grüner Veltliner) took over from Furmint in popularity and it is still the most commonly grown white variety in Sopron today Other white varieties include Irsai Olivér Riesling (known as Rhine Riesling in Hungary) The first time Sopron sparkling wine has been served in the famous Tűztorony fire tower While Sopron mainly produces still wines, there’s a small amount of traditional method sparkling wines coming out of the region, thanks to its cool climate and calcareous soils. One of Sopron’s most well-known winemakers, Kurt István Taschner pours his Taschner Blanc de Blancs 2018 for us at the top of the Tűztorony referring to the first time sparkling wine has been served in this special location The Taschner Blanc de Blancs is an homage to Champagne, with attractive aromas of melted butter and green apples, which come through to the palate pleasingly in a froth of fine bubbles. His Taschner Irsai Olivér 2021 perhaps provides more of a sense of place, with its seductive floral notes and frivolous spritz. It certainly is a charming aperitif to kick off a traditional Hungarian dinner at Erhardt Panzió There are also rosé wines, like the SPRN Rosé from Stubenvoll which challenges the copy-cat Provence style found across the globe with Levantine spice and rose petal notes softening the fresh Though the rosé and white wines are gaining recognition (the Steigler Premium Furmint 2020 received 90 points from Decanter) Sopron is still the self-proclaimed ‘Capital of Kékfrankos’ The Steigler Premium Kékfrankos 2020 is a structured and elegant style with a lift of herbal freshness on the finish The Steigler Winery has been operating organically since Tamás Varga joined as estate manager in 2018 and they have been certified as fully organic since 2021 Lőrinczy hopes that more wineries will follow in their footsteps: “Hopefully more and more wineries will switch to organic production thus letting the real terroir perform in the Sopron wines.” Kékfrankos might be king for now but other black varieties are gaining prominence in Sopron, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Dornfelder, Blauburger and Syrah. I taste the Luka Zweigelt 2019 made by Enikő Luka which is paired with goose leg and red cabbage It’s a wine full of contrasts – at once powerful and delicate – and evidently made with finesse This is the kind of wine that I would describe as ‘international’ in style It has that “oomph” and richness that we so crave in the west but with a lightness that makes it drinkable and versatile demonstrating Sopron’s potential to produce outstanding wines for the global palate The Sopron reds are a perfect match for traditional Hungarian cuisine Winehouse Taschner Steigler Winery Stubenvoll Winery Luka Winery Bonis-Reitter Winery Fényes Winery Gangl Winery Iváncsics Cellar Pfneiszl Estate Jandl Winery Vincellér Wine Estate The Buyer TVClick below to watch The Buyer's library of online debates, videos and webinars. SOPRON (Hungary) - Mai Yamamoto was the difference-maker for Japan at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Sopron was rewarded with  TISSOT Most Valuable Player honors The standout figure for her country and one of the rising stars of the global women's game, Yamamoto  attained a performance efficiency average of 19.0 after amassing 17.0 points That was helped by shooting an excellent 62 percent from the field She finished as the tournament's leading scorer, sinking 15 points in the opening day success against Spain, then the same tally in defeat against Hungary. However it was her outstanding display in the pivotal 86-82 last day triumph against Canada that stood out She was the TCL Player of the Game after a super 21 point show Miyazaki was really efficient with 13.0 points and 6.0 assists Her duo with Yamamoto was such a force for Japan in the backcourt Alexander was the foundation for Canada to advance to Paris as she posted a jaw-dropping double-double of 16.0 points and 13.7 boards per game She finished as the best baller on the glass in the tournament Carrera collected 11.7 points per game and shot 50 percent from the floor She also pulled down an average of 4.3 rebounds too it was a bitter-sweet experience for Juhasz after Hungary were edged out of an Olympics place in agonizing fashion the center did star for the hosts with 11.7 points and 8.0 boards per game The Budapest Times Sulyok said that though there were differences of opinion between the two countries on certain matters “we presidents have a duty to overcome these.” He said he was certain that honest dialogue and an approach based on mutual respect allowed Hungary and Germany to not only preserve but could also strengthen their relations The president said the Pan-European picnic was a transformative event in European history “effectively the Trojan horse of German reunification” He expressed his gratitude to the picnic’s organisers and participants saying that Hungary and Germany ought to follow their example and focus on what unites them Sulyok said he and Steinmeier were in agreement that the two countries considered each other important political and economic partners and were allies on most European issues “Preserving and strengthening our friendly relationship is our shared goal,” he added Sulyok said German businesses were the most active investor group in Hungary and were continuously expanding their activities in the country He praised the cooperation among their institutions in education adding that both Hungary and Germany viewed each other’s national minority communities as a strong link between their two countries Budapest is home to the only Germany-language university outside German-speaking countries Sulyok also said that the different opinions about Europe “unite Steinmeier welcomed that the anniversary of the Pan-European picnic was being commemorated in Sopron He said the event was not only something that led to Germany’s reunification but was also the end of Europe’s division noting its contribution to a Europe without borders Steinmeier highlighted Hungary’s responsibility as the holder of the presidency of the Council of the European Union especially in light of the Russia-Ukraine war He underscored Hungary’s role in strengthening the unity of the EU saying it was the key to Europe’s strength Steinmeier said he and Sulyok will next discuss bilateral ties in Krakow in October and that he has also invited his Hungarian counterpart to Berlin the two presidents attended a ceremony at the Pan-European Picnic Memorial Park where Sulyok said developments 35 years ago were “an important part of Hungary’s and Germany’s shared past” and paid tribute to “all victims of the Iron Curtain and separation … and those that tore down the obstacles between us” “Since the wall was dismantled economic and political links between Hungary and Germany have become stronger and stronger; we are close allies and matching partners,” he added Steinmeier said Germany’s reunification could not have happened “without Hungary’s invincible quest and love for freedom or its passion for Europe.” Developments in Sopron and Debrecen in 1989 acted as a “catalyst” for further events and “the picnic evolved into the largest wave of refugees from the German Democratic Republic and finally the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall collapsed,” he said adding that “the first important step in Germany’s reunification was taken in Hungary.” “Hungary opened a window for the world to look through; Germany will never forget that and will always be grateful to Hungary,” the German president said Steinmeier said it was his conviction that “Hungarians and Germans need each other and the European Union that they have built together and wish to shape in the future as partners and friends.” You must be logged in to post a comment PRIVACY POLICY TERMS OF USE 2007 - 2025 BZT MEDIA Kft. Design: GoOG Webdevelopment: diVid Forgot your password? You will receive mail with link to set new password Back to login SOPRON (Hungary) - Claudia Contell is not only celebrating a golden team success with Spain, but also individual glory after being named MVP of the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship in Sopron. A constant factor in Spain's campaign as they beat Czech Republic in the Final to land their ninth title, Contell produced some terrific performances during the competition. She did it at both ends of the court and finished the tournament with 10.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game. Contell was not the only Spanish baller to be recognized for her efforts, with Noa Maria Djiu also claiming a place in the All-Star Five. The frontcourt ace was always going big on the glass, bringing the intensity and showing herself as a heartbeat for Spain. While Valentyna Kadlecova didn't come out with the gold medal she had hoped, she could barely have done more to propel Czech Republic to their first appearance in the Final in 20 years. Ilaria Panzera nailed down a spot for her amazing contributions for Italy, including a sparkling 27 points and 5 steals in the Third-Place game that handed her team a bronze medal. Finally, host nation Hungary finished strongly to secure a top-five finish and that was largely down to Reka Dombai, who led her team in efficiency, points, assists and steals. SOPRON (Hungary) - There were tears on the buzzer as hosts Hungary went down 73-72 to Spain at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Sopron to miss out on Paris 2024 The home side had looked set to end a 44-year wait to get back to the Olympic Games after holding a massive lead but Spain came roaring back and the drought will now continue for Hungary The victory meant scenes of jubilation for Canada who thought they would not be going to France, but their Spanish head coach Victor Lapena and his players will be in Paris 2024 after all. This win for Spain sent them through. Turning Point: The game was flipped on its head by a 17-0 run by Spain in the second half which got them back into the contest heading into crunch time Hungary had been coasting towards the French capital TCL Player of the Game: Maria Conde came up with her best game in Spanish vest for a while after sinking a perfect 16 points from the open floor Stats Don't Lie: Spain punished Hungary by netting 22 points from turnovers Bottom Line: Spain were already confirmed as Paris 2024 bound when they took to the court and maybe that had an impact on their first half as they were not at their best But they showed their quality after the break to post an epic comeback win You can not ask for any more than beating Japan and getting 22 ahead against the second best team in Europe But they watched their great work evaporate spectacularly as possibly nerves and inexperience on all fronts cost them dearly They will have a tough time getting over this one We were heere some days ago with a different feeling but believing Right now I am very happy and I think we are so proud of the team Because I think success is sometimes to stand up again after you have fallen "It was hard to play three games against three very good teams I am very happy for my team and for my players and for my Federation and for women's basketball in Spain I am happy in general but so sorry for the Hungary team "It's really hard to find the words after this game because it was in our hands and as wr were up by 22 points and we lost by 1 We put our heart on the court and I have a feeling we did everything But we lost and could not qualify." Hungary forward In the first half we played excellent and in the second we were under the floor At the end of the day we are not in the Olympic Games and that was our dream." Hungary head coach,Norbert Szekely Matt Sopron has plenty to tell people in this year’s Christmas cards An artist of some renown — he’s won national awards from prison inmate art shows — Sopron has sent dozens of homemade cards every holiday season from the Menard Correctional Center The big news this year: he’s got a new return address Sitting in the living room of his parents Southwest Side bungalow last week Sopron admitted he hasn’t been sleeping well outside the confines of a prison cell I wouldn’t even know what that felt like,” Sopron said his hair gray from spending nearly half his life behind bars “Being in the bed [in his parent’s basement] like that felt weirder than anything at Menard.” Sopron shown in prison earlier this summer and last week at his parents’ home of Corrections mug shot; Annie Costabile/Sun-Times Sopron was charged with the 1995 murders of 13-year-olds Carrie Hovel and Helena Martin who were killed when a 15-year-old gang member sprayed gunfire at the back of a van the girls were riding in with rival gang members and Sopron was dragged into the high-profile case when another gang member told prosecutors Sopron was a gang leader and had ordered the shooting Sopron was confused when he was charged with murder and stunned when he was convicted but during his time in prison he became a publicity mastermind putting his extended family to work on ideas he hatched from his prison cell Soon after what he thought was his last appeal was denied in 2012 drafting friends and relatives to his cause A self-portrait of Matt Sopron sits on his parents’ mantel at their home on the South Side of Chicago Sopron painted the portrait while he was in prison I came up with all that stuff,” Sopron said Matt Sopron resorted to promoting his cause through other means By the time he boarded the prison bus that would take him to the Leighton Criminal Court Building earlier this month for hearings on his latest bid to overturn his conviction The corrections officer driving the bus from his Joliet prison even recognized his name I been driving by you every day for the last two or three years’” — the Stevenson is the main highway between Joliet and the Little Village court house — “’I been waiting for you to get on my bus,’” Sopron recalled The hearing would not be without some suspense who last year got his life sentence for the double-murder conviction reduced to 60 years testified about Sopron’s lack of involvement in the shooting for the first time More worrisome was the testimony of Billy Bigeck who had first told investigators that Sopron had ordered younger Popes to “light up” a van driven through Popes territory by rival gang members Bigeck had signed an affidavit admitting he made up a story about Sopron being involved so he could offer something to prosecutors and cut a plea deal; he was the last of three Popes members who testified at Sopron’s trial to recant shuffled past Bigeck on his way into court “I said … ‘Go in there and tell the truth … It will change your life,” Sopron said Bigeck testified he had implicated Sopron and another and an overzealous assistant state’s attorney was only too happy to add another defendant to a heater case Sopron had hated Bigeck since the moment he was charged but the hard feelings all but evaporated as he heard him testify Bigeck had been 17 and was told he was facing a death sentence “As hard as it seems like it would be for me to say Sopron said he is looking forward to starting a career as a tattoo artist building on connections he made with artists he contacted while he was in prison He also wants to help other inmates beat wrongful convictions Whether he starts his tattoo business with money from a lawsuit over his 20 years in prison “No amount of money can cover that,” he said me and all these other guys that get out wrongfully convicted We use cookies to provide our services and for analytics and marketing. To find out more about our use of cookies and how you can disable them, please see our Privacy Policy. By continuing to browse our website, you agree to our use of cookies. Click here to read our privacy policy. Sopron is a beautiful tiny city on the lower hills of the Alps It’s a popular destination among the tourist as it offers a great range of resorts and a natural beauty The city is famous for its bond to basketball the women’s team has been the ruler of the Hungarian league for long years and a regular participant in the Euro League Final Four – indeed the city already hosted that event for three times in recent years Though it was one of the few cities in the countryside which already had a fine indoor swimming pool – which hosted the 1992 European Junior Water Polo Championships – recently a brand-new complex was opened where the Hungarian Cup Finals were staged in late 2021 as its inaugurating events the coming World Championship games shall visit a true treasure box Matt Sopron's double murder conviction has been overturned After two co-defendants gave new testimony on the 1995 killing of two 13-year-old girls the Cook County State's Attorney's Office said prosecutors requested his conviction vacated The Cook County State's Attorney's Office decided to overturn the conviction after co-defendants Eric Anderson and Nicholas Morfin gave "compelling testimony," refuting Sopron's involvement in the killing of Carrie Hovel and Helena Martin "Based on that testimony and in the interest of justice the State’s Attorney’s Office asked Judge Timothy J Joyce to vacate Sopron’s conviction and dismiss the charges," the statement reads "Finally, justice," Sopron's mother In 1995, Anderson, then 15, was a part of the Almighty Popes street gang and had fired a gun at members of the Ridgeway Lords, a rival gang, reports say. During the shooting, Carrie Hovel and Helena Martin, both 13, were sitting in a van nearby an elementary school riding with members of the Ridgeway Lords was the leader of the Almighty Popes and that he had ordered the hit that resulted in the girls' deaths Anderson and Morfin testified against Sopron But Anderson's newest testimony refutes that allegation “Matt Sopron had nothing to do with the murders,” Anderson's statement reads “I will testify in court or talk to anyone about this said at a news conference that "every single witness" claimed to have lied back then due to threats or promises "Even bad guys sometimes have a conscience," he said Photo credit: CBS Chicago YouTube screenshot / IDOC Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. Hungarian club Sopron Basket has undergone major changes since winning the EuroLeague Women championship in 2022 it remains a force to be reckoned with in Group B It’s been just over nine months since Sopron Basket won the 2022 EuroLeague Women championship with an improbable title run. Gabby Williams, who won Final Four MVP honors alongside similarly hard-nosed players such as Briann January and Bernadett Határ and prized offseason signing Brittney Sykes transferred to Spanish club and EuroLeague Women rival Spar Girona four games into the competition’s group play phase grind-it-out game that held a star-studded Mersin lineup (featuring Chelsea Gray and DeWanna Bonner) in check and to a season-low 44 points ! The Game Of The Week was a true battle ⚔️#EuroLeagueWomen pic.twitter.com/teqTZDcMXM This week, Sopron will have an opportunity to extend its lead in Group B against fellow Hungarian club DVTK HUN-Therm, on which the average player age is just 23 years old Don’t take Arella Guirantes and DVTK lightly though; they’ve won three straight games and have been on the right side of more than one upset this season along with all other EuroLeague Women games will be streamed live and for free on FIBA’s EuroLeague Women YouTube channel Here’s a quick rundown of the other games happening in Week 10 of group play How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Kitija Laksa (Virtus Segafredo Bologna); Stephanie Mavunga How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Elizabeth Williams (CBK Mersin Yenişehir Bld); Marine Fauthoux The Turkish club will need to play much more convincingly this time around if it’s going to establish any sort of momentum How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Kylee Shook (Olympiacós SFP); Breanna Stewart Matchup details: It’s hard to imagine a bigger mismatch than this Ever since adding Stewart and Sabally to its roster Fenerbahçe has won two games by a combined 70 points remains winless and allows the second-most points per game (79.9) in the competition The Greek club did give Fenerbahçe a run for its money back in Week 3 (a 95-89 final) so it’s hard to imagine another close one here in Week 10 even accounting for Gustafson’s usual individual offensive excellence (23.5 points per game; 61.6 percent shooting) How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Sydney Wallace (Atomerőmű KSC Szekszárd); Lauren Cox Matchup details: Valencia has now won three-straight games after last week’s upset of Praha and is looking good for a playoff appearance out of Group A The Spanish club currently leads EuroLeague Women in 3-point shooting accuracy at 39.4 percent which bodes well against Szekszárd’s league-worst defense (83.1 points allowed per game) It’s entirely possible that this one turns into a shootout in which case Szekszárd won’t be completely hopeless; Vivians currently ranks third in the competition in scoring (17.8 points per game) while Hebard is one of its most efficient-scoring frontcourt players How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Valériane Vukosavljević (ZVVZ USK Praha); Yvonne Anderson Matchup details: It’s not often that Praha looks mortal, but Valencia was able to cut the Czech club down to size last week despite another triple-double from Thomas (17 points who is on the short list of Most Valuable Player candidates this season played spectacularly the last time Praha faced Bourges (Week 3) though it was a closer game than many anticipated which features a pesky defense and one of the league’s top on-ball shot creators in Anderson so Praha must return to its dominant ways in order to get back on track How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Aleksandra Crvendakić (Perfumerias Avenida); Rhyne Howard and on paper seems to be the more talented club at this juncture would go a long way in securing its own playoff appearance How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Matchup details: Girona has run hot and cold in recent weeks, most recently losing a close one to Schio in which the club’s lack of offensive firepower was apparent Mechelen may seem to be a gift on Girona’s schedule but keep in mind the Belgian club’s lone win in group play came in Week 3 against this same Girona team who should put her new team comfortably over the top against a young Mechelen squad (average age: 22 years old) How to watch: FIBA YouTube live stream Cheridene Green (DVTK HUN-Therm); Ezi Magbegor though DVTK is no stranger to pulling off upsets; Guirantes and company have defeated both Girona and Schio thus far in group play All the favorites advanced to the EuroLeague Women Final Four and the two semifinal games did not disappoint But Avenida (17 games played) and Sopron (16) ranked as the “worst” semifinal teams if you average all team statistics from the regular season and quarterfinals into a single metric The underdog Sopron hit the ground running and although Avenida did enough to keep the score relatively close the Spaniards couldn’t find their rhythm at all on offense as it posted the best numbers on that side of the ball throughout the regular season and that certainly showed on Friday Avenida went down 13-5 with under five minutes to go in the first quarter whereas Sopron led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter the biggest reason for Sopron’s “upset” came a little bit out of left field as Jelena Brooks played an impressive game in 36 minutes off the bench but they struggled against Sopron’s frontcourt of Brooks Hatar (10 rebounds in addition to her 15 points) and Dolson (four points and four rebounds) Williams had some shaky minutes but was ultimately fantastic Fellow import Katie Lou Samuelson was clearly limited in her return (20 minutes four rebounds) and far from the player she’d proven to be earlier this year Avenida made a fourth-quarter run to close the gap going 1-3 through the first four games of the season but it didn’t drop another match in its next 11 outings including a 2-0 series victory over TTT Riga in the quarterfinals Praha found things a little bit harder and closed the regular season and quarterfinals with a combined 12-5 record and a 2-1 series victory against Baretta Famila Schio in the quarterfinals This game was the closest approximation to an All-Star affair, with seven players on the EuroLeague First and Second Teams. On top of that, Praha’s Maria Conde was the MVP runner-up and Fenerbahçe’s Alina Iagupova finished third And that pair of players—Conde and Iagupova—impacted the outcome of the second semifinal the most the absolutely mad crowd rooting for Fenerbahçe on home soil While it can be said that the first semifinal was a good but not great game this match was incredible for the full 40 minutes—or until Fenerbahçe decided enough was enough The first two quarters of play saw neither team lead by double digits but Praha took a 12-point advantage in the third that Fenerbahçe ended up flipping into a 14-point advantage with a little over two minutes to go in the final quarter that’s a 26-point turnaround by the Turkish side in a dominating 10-minute span In a game defined by offense way more than defense finished with 11 in just 25 minutes of playing time because of an injury Praha will wonder what could have been had Conde not been forced to leave the court at the end of the third quarter with the Czech side being this close to knocking Fenerbahçe out for good combined with a mighty performance from Iagupova (a game-high 24 points four rebounds and four steals) and the rest of the Turkish Monstars Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas were at the top of their games three blocks and one assist from the former and 12 points eight assists and one steal from the latter not even that led Praha to pull off the upset And I have not even mentioned Teja Oblak’s 22-point If Fenerbahçe’s comeback was about details and Hartley were two very big ones on Friday one point and one steal in 10 minutes) and Veronika Vorackova (five points Both Stankovic and Vorackova could have done more to help Thomas Jones and Praha as a whole maintain their lead and make it to the last game of the season The EuroLeague Women Final is scheduled to tip off on Sunday at 4 p.m. CET (10 a.m. ET). The third-place game will start at 1 p.m. CET (7 a.m. ET). A free stream of the games will be available on the EuroLeague Women YouTube channel You must be logged in to post a comment Sopron out to bury Istanbul nightmareISTANBUL (Turkey) - Galatasaray are hoping to build on their momentum with a fourth straight EuroLeague Women win while Sopron Basket are hoping for happier memories than on their last Istanbul trip ISTANBUL (Turkey) - Galatasaray are hoping to build on their momentum with a fourth straight EuroLeague Women win The pair go head to head in what could be an absorbing Game of the Week with Galatasaray having seemingly transformed their campaign they have turned things around nicely with three victories on the bounce They will like their chances against Sopron - especially as they have added the offensive power of Kaela Davis to the roster She has already lit it up in EuroCup Women this season at Tenerife and joins Galatasaray for a second spell having previously taken them to a EuroCup Women title Meanwhile the last time Sopron were in the Turkish city earlier in the season it proved to be an absolute nightmare as they suffered a huge blowout at the hands of Fenerbahce Safiport It is the only blip on their record in what has otherwise been a very productive season The live broadcast of the game between Galatasaray and Sopron Basket will be freely available on the EuroLeague Women YouTube channel sitting in joint-second place in the Group Meanwhile in the Turkish League they have the exact same record Sopron Basket are 4-1 and the current group leaders while in the Hungarian League they are yet to taste defeat and are currently 9-0 Last meeting: The two teams met each other in quick succession just under a year ago due to a revised schedule because of the pandemic Sopron won both of those games on Hungarian soil you have to rewind four years for when the clubs met in Istanbul with Sopron taking an exciting 75-73 victory Key matchup: It will be fascinating to see Galatasaray center Tina Krajisnik going up against her old team and one that she served so brilliantly over the years She will have matched up so many times in practice against the towering Bernadett Hatar but now she has to do battle against her former teammate Both players have had excellent starts to the season and whoever wins this battle could go a long way to determining the result X-factor: Galatasaray have done well this season in the open court and average almost double digits in fast-break points so Sopron can't gift-wrap any opportunities and must be wary Can the visitors turn the defensive screw and disrupt the home offense BOURGES (France) - The curtain is about to be raised on the SuperCup Women 2022 as reigning EuroCup Women champions Tango Bourges play host to current EuroLeague Women title holders Sopron Basket Both clubs will participate in the 11th edition of the prestigious competition, with Tango Bourges looking to take inspiration from last year when Valencia BC made history by becoming the first EuroCup Women champion to take down a EuroLeague Women representative when they beat four-time winners UMMC Ekaterinburg 73-66 Bourges and Sopron will both play in the EuroLeague Women Regular Season in this upcoming campaign although they can only meet each other if they make the Play-Offs since they have been drawn in separate groups The live broadcast of the game will be freely available on the EuroLeague Women YouTube channel with tip-off scheduled for 20:00 CET on Tuesday Live stats and play-by-play will be available here After winning EuroCup Women on their home floor as the hosts of last edition's Final Four Tango Bourges have had a relatively significant roster overhaul which has seen many players move on: from veteran duo Elin Eldebrink and Isabelle Yacoubou to rising star and EuroCup Women Final Four MVP A post shared by BourgesBasket (@bourgesbasket) Bourges has secured the eye-catching Serbia national team playmaker Yvonne Anderson while also snapping up Kayla Alexander and Anete Steinberga although the latter has been suffering with an injury Stability comes in the form of the evergreen Sarah Michel experienced Endy Miyem and ever improving Laeticia Guapo Sopron Basket has also had an injection of new faces in the wake of their famous weekend in Istanbul when then underdogs claimed their maiden EuroLeague Women title Opals' standout Ezi Magbegor has been brought in and alongside Dragana Stankovic who switches from Prague meaning they have athleticism and a mobile frontcourt Floor general Briann January and the dynamic EuroLeague Women Final Four Gabby Williams have been harder to replace and especially since the Hungarians announced last week that the highly-rated Courtney Vandersloot would no longer be joining That puts a heavy load on incoming playmaker Brittney Sykes and there will need to be some high production from new wing Jelena Brooks and Zsofia Fegyverneky continue to lend their extensive veteran know-how with Aliz Varga rising up the minutes played column as she continues to mature Key matchup: The source of Sopron's scoring is likely to come mainly from experienced forward Jelena Brooks then it's tough seeing the EuroLeague Women champions racking up a big score The task of slowing her down is likely to fall to Canada's Kayla Alexander or another veteran in Endy Miyem Form guide: Bourges have not yet started the LFB season and so may be a little undercooked in terms of competitive games coming into this this one they have the Match of Champions against Basket Landes this weekend in France Sopron Basket have already played six games and are a flawless 6-0 in the Hungarian League which has been running longer than almost any other in Europe this season From several teams finishing group play with perfect records to an achingly close playoff race in Group C the second hub of regular-season EuroLeague Women action had it all After an exciting week of group play in EuroLeague Women, seven of the eight playoff spots for the 2020-21 season have been decided. Only Group A’s second seed remains up for grabs: Turkish club Izmit Belediyespor still has two games to play after arriving late to Group A host Salamanca But the biggest story of group competition is the undefeated records (6-0) of three teams — Perfumerias Avenida UMMC Ekaterinburg and Sopron Basket — that earned the top seeds in Groups A Who you got in the Quarter-Finals? #EuroLeagueWomen pic.twitter.com/izdmlT26Qv Ekaterinburg and Sopron in the postseason will be Spar Girona (Group C) Fenerbahçe (Group B) and LDLC ASVEL Féminin (Group B) We’ll know which Group A team will join Avenida come mid-February when Izmit Belediyespor is scheduled to take on Nadezhda and Dynamo Kursk Until then, let’s quickly run through the results of the second hub of group play. Remember that all EuroLeague Women games are broadcasted for free on FIBA’s YouTube channel and archived in case you’d like to go back and watch them later Recap: Galatasaray opened the game with a 34-point first quarter and never looked back Angel McCoughtry scored 10 points in her Galatasaray debut Recap: Sopron shot nearly as well from three (45.5 percent) as it did from two (45.7 percent) — enough to hold off Isabelle Yacoubou (20 points and 8 rebounds) and Bourges Recap: A one-point game with under a minute remaining LDLC ASVEL Féminin was able to put things away on a layup from Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe (15 points and 7 rebounds) Recap: Kursk scored 53 points in the second half and were led by an efficient Arike Ogunbowale (23 points Recap: Girona held Riga to just six first-quarter points and had four players score in double digits Chelsea Gray put together a well-rounded stat line of 15 points Recap: Kayla McBride (26 points) and Fenerbahçe demolished their Group B rival shooting a ridiculous 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) on 3-pointers Recap: Izmit Belediyespor led 46-38 at the half before Katie Lou Samuelson (6-of-8 on 3-pointers and 29 points) and Avenida woke up in the second Recap: Schio managed to keep this one relatively close until the fourth Breanna Stewart (16 points) and Ekaterinburg were too much to handle Recap: Angel McCoughtry broke out in her second game for Galatasaray scoring a game-high 26 points and evening the Turkish club’s EuroLeague record to 2-2 Recap: Fenerbahçe was in control from the start and used a 29-6 fourth quarter to put Gdynia away Kia Vaughn (19 points and 8 rebounds) showed a scorer’s mentality not often seen from her in the WNBA Recap: Izmit Belediyespor once again fell flat in the second half scoring just five points in the third quarter Arike Ogunbowale nailed a series of clutch free throws in crunch time and Kursk’s defense did the rest Recap: Give Girona credit for hanging in there against Emma Meesseman (22 points and 8 assists) and the Ekaterinburg superteam but it’s not every day you see a team allow 60-percent shooting from 2-point range and not get blown out Recap: LDLC ASVEL Féminin was able to keep Praha at bay during the fourth quarter despite Maria Conde’s (17 points) best efforts Recap: Monique Billings did not play for Nadezhda in this one Katie Lou Samuelson (25 points) continued her strong play for Avenida Recap: Schio needed every bit of what Natalie Achonwa (17 points 3 assists and 3 steals) brought against a Riga team that was trying its best to get its first victory Recap: A crucial fourth quarter (26-16) was the deciding factor in this one Isabelle Yacoubou (17 points) led five Bourges players in double-digit scoring Recap: A highly-anticipated matchup between Group B’s best lived up to the hype with Alina Iagupova’s steal and layup winning the game for Fenerbahçe in its closing seconds Recap: Nadezhda bounced back nicely from its Thursday embarrassment winning a tightly-contested free-throw battle down the stretch to outlast Izmit Belediyespor Ekaterinburg didn’t allow Riga to score more than eight points in a quarter until the fourth Recap: Sopron completed its impressive six-game sweep of group play holding Landes to 32.8-percent shooting and forcing 21 turnovers Recap: A disappointing season for Praha ended on a high note with Brionna Jones amassing 27 points Recap: Katie Lou Samuelson was hot once again Arike Ogunbowale (5 points) attempted just four shots for Kursk Recap: This was about as close as it gets — on multiple levels Schio needed to win by at least five points to earn Group C’s second playoff seed a missed two-point shot attempt with just seconds remaining sent Girona to the postseason instead Recap: Galatasaray was once again led by Epiphanny Prince (18 points 8 rebounds and 3 steals) and earned Group D’s second playoff seed with the victory Recap: Bourges thoroughly spoiled the EuroLeague Women swan song for French basketball legend Céline Dumerc by scoring no fewer than 21 points in each quarter Six Bourges players scored at least ten points Recap: Avenida became the third team in this season’s EuroLeague Women competition to go 6-0 in group play Perfumerias shot 63 percent from 2-point range and out-rebounded Izmit Belediyespor 41-27 Peanut—reside behind a quaint farmhouse on the grounds of Pfneiszl’s vineyards in the equally picturesque city of Sopron When taking a break from my late-afternoon tasting and the artfully composed platters of bread and charcuterie that accompany the arc of glasses to visit the airy loo through the window I catch a glimpse of these graceful marsupials cavorting in the backyard “They are easy-going animals,” Birgit Pfneisl tells me The globe-trotting winemaker has worked harvests in Chile a bright spot in a place that she admits “wasn’t my best experience My mind was already home.” How happy she was upon returning to Hungary to read that her beloved kangaroos could also be found in Europe from a perfect random-Tuesday-night-in-July rosé to the bold “Don’t Look Back in Anger” 2013 Kékfrankos—one of Hungary’s indigenous prized grapes—to the fittingly named “Kangaroo Jump” 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon to the exquisite red blend Távoli Világ I listen to Birgit’s story of the progressive winery she runs with her sister Katrin who oversees the company’s marketing and sales efforts cobblestoned city center with street signs flaunting both Hungarian and German it is the unlikely locale that helped along the demise of the Iron Curtain the “Pan-European Picnic” symbolizing solidarity between the Austrians and Hungarians unfolded on the outskirts of Sopron with the border opened for just three hours so residents could temporarily come and go freely Yet when East Germans heard of this sliver of opportunity those already camping out in Hungary came in droves to seek their coveted Western freedom Sopron is also one of Hungary’s (underrated) wine regions when Birgit and Katrin’s grandparents fled to Austria With the success of the Pfneisl (the z gets dropped outside of Hungary) estate run by the sisters’ father and his brothers in Austria the Sopron grapes were forgotten—that is until 1993 Our playground was the vineyard and we were expected to help our parents,” says Birgit Join our newsletter to get exclusives on where our correspondents travel Life hasn’t always been easy for Budapest’s Chinese migrants but food is helping bring two cultures together A Vienna guide from schnitzel to paradeiser A photographer explores Lithuania’s village discos These 10 bits of local wisdom will help get you started Matt Sopron spent 20 years in prison on a wrongful conviction for murder He was freed after witnesses recanted and the charges were dropped 15-year-old kid when he opened fire on a van parked near Hale Park in the winter of 1995 a cop’s son who stood just 5-feet-tall and weighed 101 pounds said he was perpetually trying to impress everyone in his South Side neighborhood particularly his fellow members of the Almighty Popes he was not acting on orders from an older Popes member killing 13-year-old passengers Carrie Hovel and Helena Martin On Monday at a hearing on whether to grant Sopron a new trial Anderson testified that he had stayed silent as Sopron was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for ordering the shooting and remained quiet for decades as his own appeals played out I spent a decade and a half in maximum security really coming to grips with the decisions I made and the irreparable harm I had caused to the victims’ family people who were innocent,” Anderson said in front of Sopron The testimony played out in a courtroom at the Cook County’s Leighton Criminal Court building packed with nearly 50 supporters “I try to be best that I can since then,” Anderson added Eric Anderson | Illinois Department of Corrections who was originally sentenced to life in the murder Anderson said Sopron had been at a fellow Pope’s house when Anderson arrived trying to sell a pair of guns he’d stolen in a home burglary A pair of other Popes — who also have since recanted — testified at Sopron’s trial that Sopron told them to “pull a roll” on members of the rival Ridgeway Lords who were invading their turf a Popes member who had been with Anderson at Hale Park and who had been the first Pope to name Sopron as the one who ordered the shooting testified Monday that he had been lying to reduce his own sentence Bigeck said his own lawyer and a former prosecutor pressured him to implicate others in the shooting to get a lighter sentence for himself After he gave a statement naming Sopron as a gang leader the prosecutor let him review case files and have drugs and alcohol during trial preparation meetings at the prosecutors’ office not knowing and understanding what’s going on who was sentenced to 50 years for his role in the crime Billy Begeck | Illinois Department of Corrections Assistant Prosecutor Carol Rogala noted that the first time anyone came forward saying Sopron had been the victim of lying witnesses was when Bigeck had a jailhouse lawyer draw up affidavits for Bigeck and his co-defendant But Bigeck admitted he tore up his affidavit Asked if he was lying again Tuesday to besmirch the prosecutor’s reputation I just wanted the truth out there,” he said I was just trying to do something for someone in this whole cluster—-.” As they walked out of the courthouse trailing dozens of supporters Monday said it was moving to hear Anderson and Bigeck testify “I have spent 21 years waiting for this,” Patricia Sopron said Hungarians and Austrians gathered in friendship at the border it was not bulldozers or hammers that struck one of the first decisive blows Thirty years ago this Monday, on 19 August 1989, thousands of Hungarians and Austrians gathered at the border fence between the two countries which also marked the dividing line between the Communist bloc and the west They had come for a “pan-European picnic” of solidarity and friendship across the iron curtain as momentum for political change increased and the eastern bloc regimes struggled to keep up with rising popular discontent On Monday the German chancellor, Angela Merkel to mark the event together with Hungary’s prime minister has spoken repeatedly about the importance for her personally of the fall of the wall and the events leading up to it a thinly veiled rebuke of Donald Trump’s politics Orbán, meanwhile, is the European champion of modern-day walls, having built his popularity in Hungary on promising to keep refugees and migrants from Africa and the Middle East out of Europe. His government constructed a fence along the country’s southern border with Serbia after hundreds of thousands of people crossed Hungary in 2015 many of them with Merkel’s Germany as their final destination Orbán’s media empire railed against Merkel’s decision in 2015 to extend a welcome to those fleeing war, and he has been the most extreme of the many anti-migration politicians in central Europe warning of a Muslim “invasion” of Europe and calling for strongly guarded borders A poster advertising the pan-European picnic in 1989 Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty ImagesIt is a far cry from a declaration made at the time of the picnic calling for “the demolition of barbed wires and cultural barriers raised by political chicanery” to achieve worldwide peace But for the Hungarians who organised the picnic three decades ago comparisons between the two border walls are misguided and offensive In a recent interview with a Hungarian magazine the main organiser of the picnic in Sopron and now a local councillor for Orbán’s Fidesz party said that during trips to western Europe in the 1980s he had envied the tranquility and affluence of life but he was now less impressed with life further west He recalled a recent trip to France and Germany during which he had been horrified to encounter gender-neutral toilets and homosexual couples dismayed at the prospect of migrants from Africa being housed in their village: “You’re lucky to have a prime minister like Viktor Orbán!” they told him Whatever people’s attitudes to today’s wave of people fleeing oppression and there is no doubt that for a whole generation of Hungarians the events of August 1989 remain a defining memory on the path to liberation “After the war we were closed in a box for decades Opening the border gave us back the freedom we didn’t have for so long,” said Ditte Preznánszky who was a 22-year-old languages student in Budapest in 1989 and travelled to the picnic on a bus arranged by a student summer camp she was attending which had taken steps to start dismantling parts of the border fence several months earlier and thousands of Austrians came across the border to join the Hungarians for an afternoon of music and speeches Pliers were handed out and people set about dismantling the fence which until not long before had been electrified “I had an uncle who escaped in 1956 and most of us knew the terrible things that had happened on the border so it was very exciting to cut down the iron curtain,” said Preznánszky East Germans pass across the border between Hungary and Austria in Hegyeshalom on 11 September 1989 Photograph: ReutersThe organisers insist they had not banked on the arrival of hundreds of East Germans who were allowed to holiday in Hungary but not to travel to the west tipped off by West German diplomats in the country several hundred travelled to Sopron and burst through the border gate and into Austria and although the border crossing was resealed a day later Overcoming worries of how Moscow would react Hungary’s government opened the border properly on 11 September and tens of thousands of East Germans passed through Nowadays there is heavy traffic in both directions across the border Sopron has found a niche in dental tourism with Germans and Austrians travelling to the town to receive cut-price treatment while thousands of Hungarians go the other way in search of higher salaries The border post was removed when Hungary joined the European Union’s Schengen zone in 2007 but Austrian border guards reappeared in 2015 during the migration crisis and have remained in place but they will only stop you if you’re brown you in the west only care about harassing Hungary for being racist because we are the doormat of Europe,” said Nagy This article was amended on 19 August 2019 to clarify that Angela Merkel was brought up, not born, in East Germany. SOPRON (Hungary) - Spain or Czech Republic will lift the coveted FIBA U20 Women's European Championship trophy after both nations won their respective Semi-Final matchups on Friday Spain inflicted an incredible 26-0 second-half run on 2019 champions Italy to change the contest and it resulted in a remarkable 56-40 win Having trailed by double-figures early in the game Spain were unstoppable after the break as Italy endured a nightmare drought As well as only making 2 of 14 from long-range more than half of which were due to Spain turning the defensive screw while Italy are now left contemplating a battle for the last podium step in the Third-Place Game with France The French team were pipped 65-63 in a roller-coaster and dramatic meeting with Czech Republic although the win might have been more comfortable had the Czechs not missed 9 of 21 free-throws The game ebbed and flowed until a nail-biting conclusion when a go -ahead three-pointer with a couple of minutes to go by Valentyna Kadlecova put Czech Republic on the path to a tense victory She finished with a game-hight 23 points to send her nation to their first title game in two decades while Pauline Astier impressed with 18 points with a number of exciting rising stars ready to hit the floor in Hungary SOPRON (Hungary) - Anticipation is growing ahead of the first FIBA U20 Women's European Championship since 2019 The event in Sopron will be keenly contested as youth basketball comes back under the spotlight at the home venue of the current EuroLeague Women champions Below are just some of the headline acts that you should follow when the action tips off on Friday You can also take a look at some of the ballers to follow at the FIBA U20 Women's European Championship Astier has played skilfully and was top scorer last year for her nation with 15 points per game at the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup She will be looking to find that high-scoring gear again and will be high up on her opponents' scouting reports as someone to lock down 🎥𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 La jeunesse décomplexée by Pauline AstierUn match plein de culot de la part de la meneuse du @BourgesBasket et #MeilleureJeuneLFB 2022https://t.co/eQVkABx9PZ pic.twitter.com/HuFexbCIEb Astier arrives on Hungarian soil a EuroCup Women winner and French League Champion after signing off what has been a remarkable season for legendary French club Bourges Basket With terrific shot selection and consistently good finishing she was a regular off the bench in both competitions and is expected to begin pushing for a spot in the French senior team A big hope for the future of Hungarian basketball Dombai has been an exceptional European talent for several years and right in the center of that radar because of her skills She has won so many different accolades ad was instrumental in propelling Hungary to a historic bronze last year at U19 to underline how long she has been clutch and around on the scene that was her second edition of the competition having also played in the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup too Meet 🇭🇺 Rising Star, Reka Dombai !The 17-year-old has been having some season 🔥.@uni_gyor | @Hunbasket1 | #EuroCupWomen pic.twitter.com/6p2JJzLZEH Dombai also got Hungary onto the podium at the FIBA U18 Women's European Championship in 2019 A natural scorer and strong both on and off the ball she has posted two impressive first campaigns for Gyor in EuroCup Women and in the Hungarian League It's no surprise she also stepped out with the senior Hungary team in the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers There is still a real buzz around Villa and she is looking like a lock to be a senior regular during these next years after really coming alive in a big way in the past couple of seasons She was always seen as a major rising star in her homeland perhaps standing out more because of the presence of her twin sister alongside her Matilde has caught the eye hugely with her work and the guard was part of the Italy team crowned champions at the FIBA U16 Women's European Championship four years ago A post shared by Reyer Venezia (@umanareyer)  Villa put herself into the spotlight last November when she appeared briefly in the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers against Luxembourg to make her senior competitive debut on the court Combine that with some outstanding play in the Italian League with Costa Mastnaga and you can see why she has just been announced as a new player for powerhouse Reyer Venezia recently A post shared by Vanesa 🦋 Jasa (@jasaa12)  Latvia's latest young player to make a mark Jasa is certainly on a nice upwards trajectory for club and country right now having gained much experience in the last couple of years despite the pandemic That's because she has been playing at the highest level in EuroLeague Women at TTT Riga and making some very useful contributions So much so that she scored 14 points not just once but twice against former EuroLeague Women juggernauts UMMC Ekaterinburg last season Such displays have seen her make rapid progression and she is now seeking to take her smarts and unassuming but highly precious game to the senior national team At youth level she has always been a leader as you would expect when she has been on court although has not taken part in as many competitions as many of her peers It looks like an opportunity to make up for this in Sopron .@BaloncestoESP's 🇪🇸 Mama Dembele Traore dials in from DEEP to end the opening quarter 🔥! #FIBAU19📺 Watch live: https://t.co/2lGjjM8LgP📝 Follow the live blog: https://t.co/iNtdrglODk pic.twitter.com/WzuKfcHKAC explosive and a real handful for defenders Dembele brings something different to many of the quality glut of Spanish guards seen in past generations She has quality and has shown it for Spain on many different stages including the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup where she appeared not only last year in Debrecen but also three years ago as the youngest member of the team in Bangkok 📹 Os presentamos a Mama Dembele, de la generación del 2002.Una base con un físico poderoso ✅ Un gran POTENCIAL de FUTURO 🧐Generación de estrellas 🤩 | @santalucia_seg | #SomosEquipo pic.twitter.com/kRTmBqJjGK Also taking part in the prestigious Basketball Without Borders program, she has been playing her ball Stateside with the University of Missouri Tigers most recently. She has been slowly but surely moving up through the gears to show the NCAA her game and especially her quick hands on defense. And, this is where she is likely to be a real force for Spain in Sopron, with the Federation very happy to have a young player with such good senior potential to choose from moving forward. Likely to be the massively go-to player for Poland when the action gets underway in Sopron, how Szymkiewicz deals with a lot of defensive attention will be important. The small forward has not only been a big influence for her country in previous  tournaments, but will arrive in-form, for example having dropped 24 points on Greece in a preparation contest. SOPRON (EuroLeague Women) – The 2018 Final Four is set to be one of the most special in memory and that is due to a pair of potentially explosive matchups in Friday’s Semi-Finals. Outlook: They are domestic rivals, giants of this competition and many people are predicting the winner of this Semi-Final will progress to the top of the podium on Sunday. The respective rosters read like a 'Who's Who?' of the women's basketball world. Holders Dynamo Kursk are on a 34-game EuroLeague Women winning streak, but UMMC have had their number in the Russian Premier League. It could be epic. Key Match-Up: Sonja Petrovic and Alba Torrens are likely to do battle on the wings and that is a duel which we have seen many times down the years. Two dynamic and headline stars of the global FIBA game, how they both play for their respective sides should have a huge bearing on the outcome. Nobody has shot the ball better from downtown than the Regular Season MVP, Petrovic, who has been playing with real rhythm and showcasing some of the best basketball of her illustrious career. Killer Question: Will this game all be about who has the most joy cleaning up on the glass? Trivia: Alba Torrens is one of only two players who has been crowned EuroLeague Women MVP more than once during the last decade. The other is her former teammate Diana Taurasi, who leads the way with 3 MVP awards. Outlook: Final Four hosts Sopron head into this game with partisan home support that guarantees to make a super atmosphere and get right behind the underdogs. Yakin Dogu Universitesi will be clear favorites and want to make Sunday's title game at the first attempt, since this is their maiden Final Four. A quick-fire start will be their aim, as silencing the noisy home fans could be vital. Killer Question: Can Sopron stay competitive off the back of their defense and hold Yakin Dogu Universitesi to below 70 and ideally, under 60 points? The uglier the game is, the more beautiful the night could become for the underdog hosts. Trivia: Ann Wauters is one of only two European-born players who has been MVP of the Final Four since 2004. SOPRON (FIBA U18 Women's European Championship) - Players at the FIBA U18 Women's European Championship attended a workshop on Friday's rest day to discuss finding a balance between basketball and education which was run by Hungarian national team captain Zsofia Fegyverneky and FIBA European special projects coordinator Betty Cebrian, encouraged group participation with the players showing a remarkable level of English the key topics were how to balance basketball and education and how to properly manage the people in the players' lives showing a high level of willingness to participate in the discussion.  FIBA is undertaking similar workshops at numerous youth championships around the globe this summer, including the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, both for men and women the next workshop will take place in Podgorica Montenegro at the FIBA U16 European Championship on August 17 Photos from the workshop can be found here.