Turkish professional basketball player Nilay Aydogan has been found dead on Monday, February 13, after last week’s devastating earthquake, the country’s basketball federation announced in a statement that has broken millions of hearts.
“It is with deep sadness that we learned that Nilay Aydogan, the national player of Cankaya University, one of the ING Super League Women’s Basketball teams, lost her life in the earthquake.”
was what the federation reported in an official statement.
Aydogan, 30, had traveled to Malayta to visit her grandmother when the devastating earthquake struck, which collapsed the apartment block in which they were both staying.according to the Turkish media, in what has been one of the most painful news.
Both the athlete and her grandmother were found dead in the rubble of the building. Malayta is more than 150 kilometers east of Kahramanmaras, where the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the southeast of the country that has caused more than 35,000 deaths in Turkey and Syria.
The player’s funeral was also attended by the president of the Turkish Basketball Federation, Hidayet Türkoglu. And it is that, beyond the pain of her death, the impact was a little greater, taking into account that the player was emerging as one of the great promises.
Aydogan had played for several second division and first division teams throughout his career in Turkey. He had also been international in the lower categories of the country and at the beginning of his professional career, which confirmed that he had a more than promising career.
It should be noted that it has not been the only case of athletes who, sadly, have lost their lives after these events. And it is that Ahmet Eyup Turkarslan, Yeni Malatyaspor goalkeeper also lost his life.
Similarly, the Turkish Wrestling Federation reported that athletes Ahmet Tas, Mehmet Eskisarili, Ali Gursoy and Aslan Ekiz died.
Meanwhile, 14 players from the Hatay women’s volleyball team are under the ruins of another building. Finally, the Turkish handball federation, the Turkish international Cemal Kutahya and the Hatayspor coach Savas Yuksel are buried under rubble in that city, one of the most affected by the earthquake.
