TUR - Tanjevic leaves coaching post

LJUBLJANA (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Following their hugely disappointing EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia, Turkey have announced that coach Bogdan Tanjevic will no longer lead the senior team.

One of the most respected play-callers in Europe who guided Italy to European Championship gold in 1999 and then famously steered host nation Turkey to a runners-up finish at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Tanjevic left the position and was replaced by Orhun Ene.

The team came up short of the Quarter-Finals at EuroBasket 2011 and failed to reach the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and Ene decided he wasn't ready to hold the reins and vacated the position.

Tanjevic returned last summer for the EuroBasket Qualification Round and led a young squad into this summer's tournament.

In Slovenia last week, however, Turkey won just one of its four games in Group D to come up well short of a top-six finish that was needed to claim a berth for next year's FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.

At a press conference, Turkish Basketball Federation President Turgay Demirel said: "I want to announce that we accept Mr Tanjevic’s resignation.

"He has been serving Turkish basketball since 2004 and serving the world of basketball for 51 years.

"He is a really respectable person."

Turkey had not intended to keep Tanjevic in charge for this summer's tournament.

They entered into negotiations with CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina with a view to the Italian taking on the job but weren't able to come to an agreement, with Messina wanting a get-out clause inserted in case he received an offer to coach an NBA team.

In early July, the Turkish federation announced that Tanjevic would lead the team again in Slovenia.

Demirel says there are going to be big changes for Turkey.

"We should call it the end of an era," Demirel said.

"I want to announce that we will begin a completely different period now in terms of the national team's technical structure."

For full and in-depth coverage of EuroBasket 2013, go to the official website http://www.eurobasket2013.org.

FIBA