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Turkey won the European Youth (U-16) Men's Basketball Championship after beating France 66-61 in the finals in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Sunday.
This is the third gold medal Turkey has won in this category. Turkey clinched the title in 1977 and 2005 as well.
The triumphant national basketball team will return to Turkey on Tuesday.
Bogdan Tanjevic, the coach of the Turkish senior men's basketball team, praised the team's success and noted that Turkey has brilliant players for the future. In a statement released on the Turkish Basketball Federation's (TBF) website, Tanjevic said it would have been hard to think about winning a title prior to the tournament even though they had high hopes for a successful tournament.
“These boys played extremely well in all their matches and proved that they are the best of this generation. This title is of critical importance for the 2020 Olympic Games, which Turkey aims to host. We could see most of these players in İstanbul 2020,” he said.
Tanjevic said the U-16 coach, Ömer Uğurata, did a great job. “He is always hardworking and trains the younger generation very well. The rest of the team was also great. Everybody worked hard for the title. The federation provided every available resource to the team. We won thanks to the team play.”
Commenting on the participation of Turkey's women's basketball team in the current Olympics, he said Turkish basketball is witnessing a successful period.
Turkish women's basketball team sweeps Czechs aside at Olympics
The Turkish women’s national basketball team won its second match at the London Olympics on Monday, winning 61-57 against the Czech Republic, while Turkey’s women’s volleyball team lost 3-1 to China in their second challenge at the Games on the same day.
In their first match against Angola on Sunday, Turkey’s “Fairies of the Net,” as the team is popularly called at home, won 72-50. They had kicked off their 2012 Olympic qualifying campaign on a winning note, routing Puerto Rico 65-53 and trouncing Japan 65-49, both matches last week.
Meanwhile, the “Sultans of the Net,” as Turkey’s women’s volleyball team is popularly known, lost 3-1 to China in their second challenge at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The set scores were 25-20 (China), 25-20 (China), 29-31 (Turkey), 25-22 (China). Turkey’s women’s volleyball team also lost against Brazil 3-2 in its first match. China, which won its first two games, will be playing against the US on Wednesday, and Turkey’s team, which has lost two straight, will hope to improve against Serbia.
