FIBA - Turkey to stage FIBA World Championships 2010

KUALA LUMPUR (FIBA World Championship 2010) - Turkey will host the FIBA World Championship 2010 for men, basketball's world governing body announced on Sunday.

The country, which staged the 2001 Eurobasket, edged out France 10-9 in the final vote taken by FIBA's Central Board.

The former Yugoslavia republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina also bid for the tournament but were eliminated in the first round of voting when France collected eight votes and Turkey seven.

National team boss Bogdan Tanjevic, who grabbed the helm this year and a coach who famously led Italy to the European title in 1999, is already
weighing up Turkey's chances in the competition.

"This is a huge chance for Turkish basketball," he said.

"There is a new generation of young players with huge potential and in combination with the experienced players we can reach new heights.

"Turkey is an emerging basketball power with a young population who loves basketball."

Turkey has exploded onto the hoops scene the past decade with teams like Efes Pilsen and Ulker Istanbul usually in thick of the hunt for  European titles and stars like Mirsad Turkcan, Mehmet Okur, Hedo Turkoglu and Ibrahim Kutluay making it to the NBA.

Okur was a key member of Detroit's NBA title winning side last season - the first time a Turkish player has won an NBA title - before joining
Utah in the summer while Turkoglu has been one of Orlando's best players at the start of the 2004-5 campaign.

Turkey staged the 2001 Eurobasket and finished runners-up to Yugoslavia.

The national side will be among the contenders in 2010, too, when the competition will be staged in the cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Ismir and
Antalya.

This summer, they went unbeaten in qualifying for next summer's European Championships in Serbia & Montenegro.

Turgay Demirel, the President of the Turkish Basketball Federation, said: "This is a big day for Turkey. We are delighted to host the FIBA
World Championship in 2010.

"We will make the World Championship the most prestigious and important sports event in the year 2010."

Turkey were successful after presenting their bid under the slogan "Let's meet where the continents meet".

Basketball's world title, then, will be decided in games played on the banks of the Bosphorus - a strait which separates the European part from
the Asian part of Istanbul. 

The FIBA World Championship 2006 will be staged in Japan.

By Jeff Taylor, PA International