Sengun, Haltali, Gorener, Bona headline Turkey extended roster
ISTANBUL (Turkey) - Turkey will have some experienced leaders on board when they head to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 as the federation included Adem Bona, Tibet Gorener, Furkan Haltali and Alperen Sengun on its 30-man preliminary squad.
Head coach Gokhan Guney will call the players together on June 2 and then head to Bolu for a training camp in midwestern Turkey about halfway between Istanbul and Ankara. The Turks will be appearing in the U19 World Cup for the fourth time and the first time since taking third place in 2015.
| Turkey's preliminary roster for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 | ||||
| Batuhan Acar | Ata Can Atsuren | Adem Bona | Berke Buyuktuncel | Bulent Hamza Celik |
| Koray Cekici | Tolga Deliktas | Mert Emre Eksioglu | Tibet Gorener | Empera Hali |
| Furkan Haltali | Kerem Kuthan Konan | David Mustaf | Yigit Onan | Ata Ulku Ozben |
| Ege Ozcelik | Omer Ege Peksari | Can Sayin | Alperen Sengun | Mustafa Serimhan Serim |
| Batin Tuna | Enes Doruk Tuzun | Ege Ulker | Haktan Yavas | Sayhan Yetkin |
| Samet Yigitoglu | Ege Tan Yildizoglu | Berkay Yilmaz | Ozan Yilmaz | Ali Yuceoral |
The group for the training camp is headlined by some big names in Turkish basketball - the top one being Sengun, who despite not turning 19 until late July was named the MVP of the Turkish Super League this season for Besiktas.
The center would be playing for Turkey for a fourth time after taking silver at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2019, finishing third at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2018 and also competing at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018.
Sengun's availability for this summer's U19 World Cup is somewhat in question as he was also included in Turkey's preliminary squad for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Canada after having averaged 12.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in four games of the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers. The OQT runs from June 29-July 4 with the U19 World Cup taking place in the Latvian cities of Daugavpils and Riga from July 3-11.
The 2002-born Haltali has also been included in Turkey's extended list for the OQT and appeared in two games in the EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers. The big man is not only Sengun's teammate at Besiktas but also played at all three of the same youth competitions for his country.
Bona meanwhile would be lining up for Turkey for a fifth time at the youth level, despite only turning 18 in late March. The 2003-born star prospect played at the U17 World Cup and U16 European Championship in 2018 and then played at the U16 European Championship and U18 European Championship in 2019. After coming up in the Pinar Karsiyaka system, Bona spent the 2020-21 season in the United States at a high school.
Gorener, for his part, has been in the United States since 2018, playing two years of high school and then playing for the University of Arizona in 2020-21. The forward will also be coming to Latvia with plenty of experience, having teamed up with Sengun and Haltali in the same three national team competitions.
All told, the 30-man pool includes four other players from the team at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2018 - Ata Can Atsuren, David Mutaf, Batin Tuna and Ege Ulker. And besides Bona, there are five players from the U16 team in 2019 - Tuna, Bulent Hamza Celik, Omer Ege Peksari, Enes Doruk Tuzun and Berkay Yilmaz.
Turkey have been drawn into Group D in Latvia along with Mali, Australia and United States.
FIBA
