TUR - Yildizoglu patient and hopeful

KARLOVY VARY (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women) - Turkey are not yet turning on all cylinders, and the FIBA Olympics Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Women begins in just 17 days.

But national team coach Ceyhun Yildizoglu isn’t worried.

His players are working hard in training, he says, and step by step, they’re making progress for the most important basketball event in their lives.

Five places for the London Games are available at the 12-team event in Ankara, which tips off on 25 June and lasts until 1 July.

“We’re still not there yet,” Yildizoglu said.

“We’ve gone through the adaptation period.

“Our goal was to have the injured players back and increase the form of players back after the end of the season.”

Turkey, with starting point guard Birsel Vardarli and power forward/center Nevriye Yilmaz nursing injuries, weren’t at full strength as they staged a warm-up tournament recently in Antalya and suffered heavy defeats to Montenegro and Belarus.

Montenegro came in sixth at last year’s EuroBasket Women while Belarus were fourth at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women.

Each national team is preparing for the EuroBasket Women Qualification Round.

“We have played against good teams,” Yildizoglu said.

Japan, a side Turkey did overcome in Antalya, are in Group A of the OQT with Yildizoglu’s team and Puerto Rico.

The Turkish side is this weekend playing in another warm-up tournament for the OQT in Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic, the city of the 2010 World Championship.

Another OQT-bound team, the Czechs, and Australia, a side that has already clinched a spot at the London Games, will be taking part.

“Winning the tournament in the Czech Republic is not a goal for us,” Yildizoglu insisted.

“We’ll come to the point where we want to be, there.

“We’re working on both offense and defense to get used to our system.

“We still can’t play five on five with our ideal roster.

“We still don’t know if Nevriye can play.

“Looks like Birsel will play more in this tournament.

“I’m pleased with my players’ performance, though. We’re taking slow but steady steps.”
 
Yilmaz is vital for Turkey but she has to be patient as she tries to recover full fitness.

“The tournament in Czech Republic will be useful to see where we are,” she said.

“We lost the games in Antalya but those games were to see who can do what.

“We’re now working more on tactics.

“Our roster has begun to shape up.

“We’ll play against good teams and see where we are.”

FIBA