Hakan Demir, in a press conference held after the national team lost 83-74 against Latvia in the 2nd Round I Group of the FIBA 2023 World Cup European Qualifications, said that they have been experiencing great sadness as a country for two weeks.
Demir stated that a painful event took place and its effects continue. “Playing basketball, doing sports, training, training in the shadow of this is not easy, but there were matches that we had to do and play. Therefore, the players came here to play these matches. They worked well and today I think they fought until the end in terms of struggle. They didn’t quit. Everyone who came in and out of the match did their best.” he said.
Emphasizing that the Latvian team consists of experienced players, Demir said:
“They’ve been playing together for a long time. Although the top players were not here, the tall players of the team were here. All in all, I think we played head-to-head with them, except for the third period, but in the third period, we had a momentary, one mistake, a turnover and we fell behind by 8 points instead of catching them and taking the lead. There Unfortunately, it was not easy to catch after 8 points fell behind.
Yiğit Arslan: “We are all trying to help as the Turkish nation”
Yiğit Arslan, one of the national team players, said that they are not in a position to talk basketball.
Expressing that they will try to return those affected by the earthquake to their former lives, Yiğit said:
“I wish God’s patience to those who lived there. I wish God’s mercy on everyone who passed away. We all try to help as the Turkish nation. Everyone who comes here today with our basketball federation goes there as a donation. That is a good thing. We will continue this together. We will try to return it to its former life in a much better way.”
