TUR - All eyes on Turkey for Final Eight

ISTANBUL (EuroLeague Women) – Many players with visions of Olympic glory this summer in London are getting ready to take part in a glamorous tournament in Istanbul.

The first edition of the EuroLeague Women Final Eight tips off on Wednesday.

The end-of-season showpiece event has replaced the Final Four and will be staged in Istanbul's famous Abdi Ipekci Arena.

The defending Olympic and world champions United States have numerous stars that will be showcasing their skills in the Final Eight, as well Australia and Russia - the national sides that are joint-second in the FIBA Rankings.

The national teams of Turkey, France and the Czech Republic - three of the 12 national sides that will be at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Women in Ankara 25 June to 1 July - have players involved in the Final Eight.

Turkish Delight

The team that is likely to receive most of the support in Turkey the next several days is Galatasaray, the hosts of the event.

With a squad that includes the USA's Diana Taurasi and Tina Charles, Turkey internationals Isil Alben and Bahar Caglar and Turkish national team coach Ceyhun Yildizoglu, Gala has had highs and lows this season.

They crashed to a 98-80 defeat to Ros Casares on 1 February in their last regular season game and finished second in Group A.

Saziye Ivegin, a Turkey national team small forward and one of the team's best shooters, was injured and didn't play in that demolition.

Alben told FIBA.com she felt the loss could end up being a blessing in disguise.

"For the Final Eight, we're going to play at home and we can still win," Alben said.

"We had wanted to win this game before it was played, we knew that we didn't have to win it.

"So, it was a bad game but for the future, it will be good."

As hosts of the Final Eight, Galatasaray didn't have to win a play-off series to advance like the other seven teams.

That defeat did seem to sharpen the focus of the coach and players because Gala were able to bounce back and win the Turkish Cup Final, beating rivals Fenerbahce on 11 March.

That Galatasaray already have a trophy in the cabinet this season should bring applause as the club has had to deal with the major blow of losing Spain international Alba Torrens to a season-ending knee injury on 19 January.

It has helped Galatasaray to have arguably the best women's basketball player in the world in Taurasi.

The USA superstar has led the team in scoring at 21 points per game, while her fellow Olympic-bound American, Charles, has poured in 18.5 points and averaged 8.6 rebounds.

Fener are not short of quality players, either.

Among their charges are 2006 FIBA World Championship MVP Penny Taylor of Australia, USA international Angel McCoughtry and three key Turkey national team stars in point guard Birsel Vardarli, Nevriye Yilmaz and Nevin Nevlin.

Vardarli, like Alben, were instrumental for Turkey in reaching the EuroBasket Women gold-medal game last season while 1.94m center Yilmaz has been regarded as the country's best player for several years.

Nevlin is the nation's 1.95m power forward who played so well in the upset of France in the Semi-Finals of last year's EuroBasket Women.

Sylvia Fowles is in the Galatasaray squad and her fellow USA international Cappie Pondexter is playing for Fenerbahce yet neither are suiting up for EuroLeague games but rather playing only in domestic league encounters.

Russian teams

The two Russian sides in the Final Eight are UMMC Ekaterinburg and Sparta&K Moscow Region and they, too, have players hoping to be on the plane with national teams to the London Games.

Sparta&K have Seimone Augustus, the MVP of the 2011 WNBA Finals who played for the United States at the 2008 Olympics, and Candice Dupree, a member of the Americans' world-title winning side two years ago.

Becky Hammon, who played for Russia at the 2008 Olympics, EuroBasket 2009 and 2010 World Championship, and Irina Osipova are in the Sparta&K side.

Osipova, a 1.96m power forward/center, has won gold with Russia at two of the last three EuroBaskets and also played on their bronze-medal winning side at the Beijing Games but an injury is likely to keep her out of the Final Eight.

Many observers are picking UMMC Ekaterinburg to win the Final Eight and the reason is the presence of USA international Sue Bird.

Arguably the best point guard in the world, Bird played with Taurasi at Sparta&K Moscow Region and celebrated four EuroLeague titles in a row before the 2010-11 season.

She led Sparta&K into last year's Final and has provided UMMC with a boost since joining the team in January.

Bird was the MVP of UMMC's recent Russia Cup Final win over Nadezhda Orenburg.

Candace Parker, who hasn't played with the United States since Beijing but could return to the squad for London, is also in the UMMC line-up along with France's top player, Sandrine Gruda.

The Russia internationals to look out for with UMMC are veterans Maria Stepanova, Svetlana Abrosimova, Olga Arteshina and Tatiana Vidmer.

Stepanova, 33, will be regarded as one of the all-time great players in international women's basketball history when she decides to stop playing and judging from her recent displays, that probably won't be any time soon.

She was named to the All-Tournament team at the EuroBasket last year and is a certainty to play for her country in London.

Hana Horakova, the Czech Republic international and MVP of the 2010 World Championship, also plays for UMMC.

The veteran point guard didn't play at last year's EuroBasket but is expected to return this summer to try and help the Czechs claim one of the five spots up for grabs for the London Games at the OQT.

Spanish clubs

Ros Casares are not short of Olympic star power.

In addition to Australia's Lauren Jackson, a player who had battled back from a couple of serious operations in the past 13 months, the team has USA star Maya Moore.

Moore won gold at the World Championship in the Czech Republic and also captured a WNBA title at the first attempt with Minnesota several months ago as a teammate of Sparta&K’s Augustus.

Jana Vesela (Czech Republic) and Isabelle Yacoubou (France) are also in the Ros Casares line-up and will in a few months be running up and down the floor for their respective national teams in Ankara at the OQT.

For Rivas Ecopolis of Spain, all eyes will be on Asjha Jones, the veteran power forward center who is trying to earn a spot in the Americans’ Olympic squad for the first time.

Jones played for USA coach Geno Auriemma at the University of Connecticut and played on his team that captured gold at the World Championship two years ago.

Jones has done nothing but help her cause to make the Olympic squad by not only playing for the USA on their European tour at the end of last year but also averaging 17.4 points and 8.6 rebounds for Rivas in the EuroLeague Women.

Polish Power

Wisla Can-Pack Krakow are gunning for their first EuroLeague Women title and in their ranks is Erin Phillips, the Australia international point guard who won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics.

In 12 EuroLeague games this season, Phillips has shot 44% (11 of 25) from long range and averaged 14.8 points and 3.1 assists.

You can catch all the EuroLeague Women Final Eight action live on FIBATV.

FIBA