Turkey release four candidates ahead of EuroBasket Women 2015

ISTANBUL (EuroBasket Women 2015) - The candidate list of Turkey has been reduced ahead of their first preparation games of the summer after head coach Ekrem Memnun opted to release a quartet of players.

Reducing the size of his roster down to 15 players after wrapping up activities at their base camp in Slovenia, the play-caller ended the Final Round hopes of Ozge Yavas, Burcu Cigil, Tugce Murat and Simay Karaman.

None of the four players cut from the list have been senior team regulars and it means there are now just three players remaining from the pool who will not go to Oradea next month for the First Round of EuroBasket Women 2015.

Competition to make the final roster will be intense now as Turkey begin to prepare for a tournament this week in Santander involving Greece, Russia and hosts Spain.

There will also be at least one new face in the line-up that steps out at Final Round, since Pinar Demirok, Esra Ural, Pelin Bilgic and Ayse Cora are all still in the running - having not previously featured for the senior team at a major tournament.

Both Bilgic and Cora will be particularly hopeful of making an impact in coming weeks, with the shooting guard spot having become relatively vacant with veteran duo Esmeral Tuncluer and Tugba Palazoglu no longer part of the team.

Cora moved away from Istanbul last summer, having been buried way down a deep Galatasaray roster and that strategy has resulted in her playing over 30 minutes per game in the TKBL last season with Edirnespor.

Meanwhile, Bilgic has matured considerably at Adana Botas under the guidance of former Turkey national team play-caller, Ceyhun Yildizoglu and is a highly rated rising star who has been touted as having the best chance of grabbing a debut slot.

Demirok and Ural both helped Agu Spor Kulubu reach the TKBL Finals and had an extra opportunity to shine when playing against Memnun and Galatasaray.

Turkey preliminary squad for EuroBasket Women 2015: Isil Alben, Pelin Bilgic, Bahar Caglar, Olcay Cakir, Tugce Canitez, Ayse Cora, Begum Dalgalar, Pinar Demirok, Saziye Ivegin, Cansu Koksal, Lara Sanders, Tilbe Senyurek, Esra Ural, Birsel Vardarli, Nevriye Yilmaz.

Go to eurobasketwomen2015.com for full coverage of EuroBasket Women 2015.

FIBA