London the main agenda for Turks

LODZ (London Games) - Sunday's Final at the EuroBasket Women in Poland capped off an incredible 10 months for Turkish Basketball and, hard as it may be to believe, it could get better yet in Lithuania two months from now.

Last summer, Turkey hosted the FIBA World Championship with the home side going all the way to the Final for a well-earned silver medal much to the delight of the thousands of partisan fans.

In March, at the FIBA Central Board in Lyon, France, the Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) was awarded the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women.

On Sunday, the Turkish women's national team came away from the EuroBasket with a much-deserved silver medal of their own after reaching the final of an international basketball tournament for the very first time.

Not only that, but Ceyhun Yildizoglu's charges also qualified for next year's Olympic Qualifying Tournament - by virtue of finishing inside the top five in Poland - and will rank among the favourites to take one of the remaining five places on offer for the London Games.

Four major milestones for Turkish basketball all in less than a year.

TBF President Turgay Demirel was on hand for the Turkish women's historical run and stressed that getting into the Olympic Basketball Tournament is the highest priority for his country's national teams.

"For both our men's and women's teams reaching the Olympics is very important right now for Turkish basketball because we have delivered so many good results at the European and World Championship levels and now we have to be one of the European teams to participate in the Olympics," he told FIBA just before Turkey stunned defending champions France in Friday's Semi-Final.

"It is our goal to be in London. Our women's team has played very well and will be one of the top candidates for the Olympics next year in the qualification."

The timing of Turkey's finest performance in women's international competition couldn't be better for Turkish basketball as it will go a long way towards increasing the already palpable interest and excitement for the 2014 FIBA World Championship.

"One of our main goals is to develop women's basketball," Demirel outlined. "We have a very strong women's basketball league in Turkey. It is one of the strongest in Europe and we also have very strong teams competing in the Euroleague Women.

"This all helps our players grow and become better players and they perform better for the national team.

"So women's basketball really is developing fast in Turkey and we will be showing this to the world in 2014."

In Poland, Turkey proved itself to be a side to be reckoned with and one with a lot of resolve.

After losing three of their first four games and facing an early exit, the Turks turned things around, winning their next four contests to reach the Final and stand assured of a medal finish and a place in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

"We didn't start well in the first round but then the team got better. We had some injured players as well," said Demirel.

"But the team has worked very hard to find the right chemistry and got better and better with every game.

"We played a Semi-Final against the defending champions. Our girls played with 100 percent passion so we believed we could win the game and play in the Final."

While they lost to Russia in the Final, the women did manage to set the bar extremely high for the men, who are expected to follow suite and reach the Olympics either directly - by reaching the Gold Medal Game in Lithuania - or through the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

"The men's team will be ready for the European Championship and making their Olympic dream come true," Demirel said confidently.

He does not foresee the NBA lockout affecting the availability of Turkey's leading international players.

"We haven't had any problems before the lockout and I don't think that we will have problems now during the lockout," he stated.

"We talked to our players and the ones who are healthy all want to be in the team. Only Mehmet Okur can't because of an injury problem, but that doesn't have anything to do with the lockout.

"Semih Erden has had some injuries and had some operations so he is in a recovery process right now and if he is ready then he will rejoin the team.

"So all of our (Turkish NBA) players will be on the roster except Okur."

Demirel confirmed that Enes Kanter, the latest Turkish player to be headed to the NBA, will be a part of the team going to Lithuania and has high hopes for the talented big guy.

"Enes will also be with us. He has been a good player for our junior programme, for our junior national team he played very well. I think in the European Championship he will help the team."

FIBA