Belgrade  - Serbia's press Monday hailed the rejuvenated national team as a force for the future despite their 85-63 defeat to Spain in Sunday's Eurobasket final in Katowice, Poland.

"A Serbian tale," "title to Spain, future to Serbia" and "Spain wins gold, Serbia wins glory" were the typical headlines, euphoric over the end of an eight-year drought.

Serbian basketball was a major ingredient of the Yugoslav powerhouse, which largely dominated the European and world scene since the early 1970s until the start of the millennium.

During that time, the former Yugoslavia until 1991 and as the rump federation of Serbia and Montenegro until 2002, won five world, one Olympic and eight European titles.

But a change of generations following the world title in Indianapolis in 2002 was followed by a series of miserable results, the best of them a sixth place at the Euro in Sweden in 2003.

The team, now without big names but led by the veteran, title-winning coach Dusan Ivkovic, was seen off to the Euro in Poland amid low expectations.

Even after the opening-round stunning win over Spain, the atmosphere turned, with sports headlines announcing the big return of Serbian basketball to the international scene.

"The silver medal in Poland is a major success of Serbian basketball and the team which will soon certainly turn to 'gold'," the daily Politika said in a column. (dpa)