Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov is an injury doubt for Russia's quarterfinal Friday against Angola in the Olympic basketball qualification tournament in Venezuela, coach David Blatt has said.
Mozgov limped off barely three minutes into Wednesday night's 84-69 defeat of the Dominican Republic, the Russians' second-successive victory in the competition, after hurting his left ankle.
"It is possible that Mozgov will not help the team in Venezuela. This is a bad news," Blatt said after the game.
The Russian basketball federation said the timeframe for his recovery would become clear in the coming days.
Mozgov's teammate Alexander Kaun said the Russians were pushed harder than they had expected against the Dominican Republic.
"We missed Timoha [Timofey] Mozgov - he got injured, I quickly sat on the bench, getting two fouls," said Kaun, adding Russia had done well to suppress the rebound threat of the Dominicans
"It was on this aspect of their game that we focused, we tried not to allow them to get many rebounds."
Russia dispatched South Korea on Monday 91-56 to secure the quarterfinal spot; Wednesday's win sending the team through at the top of the group.
Three of the 12 participating teams will qualify for London.
Russia has never won an Olympic medal, finishing seventh in Sydney in 2000, fifth in Beijing and failing to qualify for the others.
Mozgov, 25, is the only Russian left in the NBA after Andrei Kirilenko remained with CSKA Moscow after the lockout ended in December.
