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Host Turkey set to slug it out with Puerto Rico today
Turkey, known for its talent of capitalizing on the home court advantage, has been displaying a successful performance since the beginning of the tournament.
Lacking Utah Jazz center/power forward Mehmet Okur, the Turkish team has to rely on frontcourt players Hidayet “Hedo” Türkoğlu and Ersan İlyasova from the NBA as their best scorers. In the first two games, Turkey had an easy victory over Cote d’Ivoire in the day one clash, defeating the African side 86-47. On Saturday night, the host nation outscored Russia 65-56, cheering up their fans. Turkey was playing against their historical rival Greece when Today’s Zaman went to print.
American side Puerto Rico did not enjoy a good beginning in the tournament, losing its first two games. In their opening match the Puerto Ricans were defeated by Russia 66-75 on Saturday. The second match was another disappointment, with a close 80-83 defeat versus 2006 Worlds runner-up Greece. Puerto Rico was playing against Asian basketball power China yesterday evening when Today’s Zaman went to print.
This evening, Turkey (ranked 18th in FIBA standings) will seek to ensure a top spot to advance to the round of 16 after the preliminary groups while Puerto Rico (ranked 10th in FIBA standings) will attempt to break the bad luck that has been chasing it from the very beginning.
In another Group C encounter today, China faces Russia at 4 p.m. and Cote d’Ivoire, another team without a single victory in the group, takes on European powerhouse Greece at 6:30 p.m. at the Ankara Arena.
Live on TV today
NTV Spor
16:00 China vs. Russia
18:30 Cote d’Ivoire vs. Greece
NTV
19:00 USA vs.Iran
21:00 Turkey vs. Puerto Rico
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