Turkey eyes first medal in next year’s World Basketball Championship

As the host of the largest basketball event in 2010, Turkey wants to make itself heard and aspires to achieve a historic success, one that had never been accomplished before. While stressing the importance of hosting such an event, Turkish basketball experts state that Turkey has the potential to win a medal in the championship.

Highlighting that a medal is the measure of success for Turkey in the championship, Murat Özyer, a coach who is currently a free agent in the men’s Beko Turkish Basketball League (TBL), told Sunday’s Zaman that Turkey has been waiting for this moment for seven years, in other words, ever since it placed second in the European Basketball Championship in 2001. Özyer further says the stability of the team, which has worked with the same federation officials and the same technical squad since then, is an advantage that will help the team achieve success.

Turkey can be more successful in team sports when playing in front of a home audience, Özyer said, noting that Turkey will play its group matches in Ankara and that the Ankara audience will inspire the team to victory, as it did in 2001.

‘It is too soon to talk now.

NBA season must end first’

Calling the 2010 World Basketball Championship the most important sporting event that has ever been held in Turkey, well-known Turkish basketball announcer and commentator Murat Murathanoğlu said Turkey has the potential to make it to as far as the semis, but notes that it is too soon to talk about the chances before the NBA season ends because the most important players of the national teams struggle in the American basketball league.

“Almost all teams that will participate in the World Basketball Championship have players playing in the NBA playoffs. In past NBA playoffs, Mehmet Okur’s Achilles tendon was hurt [which meant he could not take part in this year’s European Basketball Championship]. How will the team be at the end of the NBA playoffs? It is difficult to evaluate the situation well now,” Murathanoğlu explained.

Assuming all the teams will be able to bring their top players to the championship, Murathanoğlu said last year’s world champion, America, and European champion Spain are better than other teams and that it is to Turkey’s advantage that it is not in the same group as them. He said Greece, which is in Turkey’s group, is a strong team and that Puerto Rico will be a tough rival because it plays in the style of street basketball. “What disturbs me is Puerto Rico, which plays basketball like street basketball, thereby leading its rivals to stumble. It is also very experienced. It could even defeat America.”

The veteran basketball announcer also said Germany is the strongest team in line four and that Turkey is lucky Germany was not drawn in the same group as Turkey. China, however, the strongest of line five, has announced that NBA player Yao Ming will take part in the 2010 championship, a move that definitely puts a dent in Turkey’s hopes.

If Turkey manages to qualify for the semis, this will be quite an achievement, Murathanoğlu said. If the players can concentrate on the games, Turkey will be able to beat Spain and Serbia. “Our odds of winning a medal depend on our performance in Group C. If we qualify for the following round as the group leader and if America and Spain are not defeated, we can make it to the semis. But we have to be a complete team with [NBA players] Hidayet [Türkoğlu], Mehmet [Okur] and the top performing Turkish NBA player Ersan [İlyasova],” he added.

NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon also believes in a Turkish success

Legendary NBA basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon, speaking after the draw, said he believes host Turkey will be successful in the championship because it has good players, including the Toronto Raptors’ Türkoğlu and the Utah Jazz’s Okur.

Also speaking after the draw, Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) President Turgay Demirel voiced his faith in the 12 Giant Men and said he is very excited about the championship.

Demirel believes Turkey will earn a medal in the championship. Evaluating Group C and Turkey’s chances, the TBF president said: “In the Ankara group [whose matches will take place in Ankara], we find Greece, a former European champion that placed second in the previous World Basketball Championship, 2007 European champion Russia and Puerto Rico, which is always big in basketball and which has many talented players. We have to be on top of the group because if we rank first, we will ease our way into the following round. We were in the same group as Greece in the 2006 World Basketball Championship, and after they qualified for the following round as the group leader, they found it easier in the following rounds, where they played against China and Germany. Because we ranked second, we played with such teams as Slovenia and Argentina and could not qualify for the semis,” he explained.

He also stressed that Turkey wants to be as happy at the end of the championship as it was on the day when the draw took place.

Turkish national basketball team manager Harun Erdenay said Turkey aims to finish in the top two. He also noted that Turkey wanted to be in the same group as Argentina and Greece from the very beginning.

Turkey’s rivals in Group C

Greece: The Greek team: Nikolaos Zisis, Antonios Fotsis, Vasileios Spanoulis, Yannis Bourousis, Nicholas William Calathes, Andreas Glyniadakis, Konstantinos Kaymakoğlu, Ioannis Kalampokis, Konstantinos D. Koufos, Efstratios Perperoğlu, Georgos Printezis, Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Greece won the European title twice, in 1987 and in 2005, while it became bronze medalist in 1949 and 2009 and silver medalist in 1989. Greece’s highest rank in a world basketball event was achieved in Japan, where it won the silver medal in 2006. It also ranked sixth in 1990 in Argentina and fourth in 1994 in Canada and in 1998 in Greece.

Puerto Rico: The Puerto Rican team: Peter John Ramos Fuentes, Carlos Alberto Arroyo Bermudez, Christian Dalmau, Elias Ayuso, Angel Daniel Vassallo Colon, Ricardo Sanchez Rosa, Daniel Gregg Santiago, Guillermo Jose Diaz Gonzalez, Carmelo Antrone Lee, Angelo Luis Reyes, Filiberto Rivera Isaac, Luis Alberto Villafane Silva. Puerto Rico won the American title in 1989 while ranking second in 2009 and third in 1993 and 2007 American basketball events. Puerto Rico’s biggest success in a world basketball event was placing fourth in Argentina in 1990.

Russia: The Russian team: Kelly McCarty (from the US), Sergei Monia, Sergey Bykov, Fedor Dmitriev, Vitaliy Fridzon, Nikita Kurbanov, Timofey Mozgov, Anton Ponkrashov, Dmitry Sokolov, Andrey Vorontsevich, Egor Vyaltsev, Aleksey Zozulin. Russia won the European title in 2007 and ranked second in 1993 and third in 1997. It was the silver medalist in Canada in 1994 and in Greece in 1998.

China: The Chinese team: Qingpeng Zhang, Wei Liu, Fangyu Zhu, Jianlian Yi, Feng Du, Zhizhi Wang, Xuefeng Hu, Xiaoxu Li, Wei Su, Yue Sun, Lei Wang, Shipeng Wang, Yao Ming. China won 14 Asian basketball championship titles while its biggest success in a world basketball event was eighth place in Canada in 1994.

Ivory Coast: The Ivory Coast team: Charles-Noé Abouo, Wilfrid d’Horpock Aka, Pape-Philippe Amagou, Errick Davon Craven, Mouloukou Diabate, P. Jonathan Monyongo Kale, Kinidinnin Stephane Konate Sornan, Muhammed Déba Kone, Namori Meite, Issife Soumahoro, Didier Eric. Winning titles twice in African basketball championships, the Ivory Coast will participate in a world championship for the first time next year.