Notes

Fenerbahçe Ülker will be out to make history when Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four tips off in Madrid May 15.

The Istanbul club aims to become the first Turkish club to clinch the Final Four title, but a tough first game awaits the team against Real Madrid, who has the advantage of playing in front of its home crowd.

In addition to its strong squad, hungry for the silverware, Fenerbahçe Ülker’s biggest gun will be coach Zeljko Obradovic, who steered the Spanish club to its last Euroleague trophy two decades ago.

The 55-year old Serb, who has won a record eight titles in the premier club competition with four different clubs and will be in his 14th Final Four, also mentored Real’s present coach Pablo Laso when the Spanish giant won the second-tier Saporta Cup in 1997.

Known for nurturing a free-flowing attacking game relying on flair and talent, Laso pointed out he had no qualms applying a different strategy after last year’s shock defeat by Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final.

“If we win the Euroleague in an ugly game, I would be as happy as if we won it in a great match,” the 47-year old from the Basque city of Vitoria told the competition’s official website.

“Fenerbahçe is a talented team, hard to match up against and able to change its rhythm. I have a lot of respect for [Obradovic], I learnt a lot from him in the two years that I spent with him.”

Heavy investment by sponsor Ülker paid off in the Istanbul club’s second season under the iron-fisted Obradovic, who brushed aside Maccabi 3-0 in a best-of-five quarter-final.

Having won five of his eight Euroleague titles with Panathinaikos, the former Yugoslavia playmaker will rely heavily on the prowess of fellow Serbs Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica.

Obradovic said hosting the Final Four is a sword which cuts both ways, although he acknowledged Real’s experience could be a telling factor.

“If you win, everybody will say it was an obvious advantage and if you lose, they will say it was the pressure.

“But they will do everything to beat us and then win the competition, but we must go there thinking we have a chance.”

Fenerbahçe Ülker is the only team in the 2015 Final Four that has never won the title, and only the second Turkish club to make it to the showpiece event, following Efes Pilsen’s successes in 2000 and 2011, finishing third in both occasions, but experienced coach Obradovic intends to see the Real game as nothing more than a regular one.

“You know, it is the Euroleague semifinal, but it is a game, a game of basketball. Nothing different,” Obradovic said.

“I will try to prepare like before every game, whether in the Euroleague or Turkish championship, and try to make them understand that we are a team that, until now, has showed that we have character, that we beat all the big teams in the Euroleague this year... So, we must go there thinking we have a chance. Even though we play against Real Madrid, who, everybody agrees, is the big favorite this year, to not just play in the final, but to take the title.”

Obradovic is the only coach to have led four different clubs to the title and is the first to place six different ones in the Final Four. Each of Obradovic’s teams reached the Final Four in either his first or second season on its bench.

Where Obradovic goes, success is sure to follow, and the two games this weekend will decide whether Fenerbahçe Ülker and Turkey will be the latest beneficiaries of the legendary coach’s expertise.








The Bursa Büyükşehir Belediye women’s volleyball team scored a home victory against Uralochka Ektarinburg, after a difficult comeback from a heavy loss in Russia, claiming the trophy at the 2015 Confederation of European Volleyball’s (CEV) Challenge Cup final on April 12.

The victory further cemented Turkey’s leading role on the European women’s volleyball scene, with Bursa Belediye’s success coming only one week after Turkish teams Eczacıbaşi VitrA and VakıfBank claimed gold and bronze, respectively, at the Final Four tournament of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League.

Bursa’s star player, Meryem Boz, who recorded a terrific haul of 35 points in the game, was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the finals.

Uralochka, one of the most decorated volleyball teams in history, started out strong and claimed a close first set, asserting its intention to back up the speedy home win it had claimed last week. However, as the match progressed, the home heroines of Bursa Belediye lived up to their pre-match statements, fighting bravely for every single ball and sweeping three sets in a row to call for the golden set.

Though they initially trailed, with Uralochka going up by two points at 3:5, Bursa was able to fight their way to the top again. After more than two hours of play, they got the party started with their 3,500 fans in attendance at Cengiz Göllü sports hall.

“We really wanted this victory so badly and in the end, we got the trophy we desired so much,” said Bursa Belediye captain Zeynep Seda Eryüz.

“We always knew we had a chance, we believed in ourselves even after the big loss in Russia and in the end, we won,” said the home side’s coach, Emin İmen. “I want to thank our supporters for the great ambiance they contributed today.”

Bursa Belediye claimed Turkey’s second triumph in the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup since the competition began. In 2008, Vakıfbank Güneş Sigorta had topped the charts after edging past Italy’s Infoplus Minetti Imola in the final match.
























The Turkish Football Federation has decided to suspend all first-tier Spor Toto Super League games, along with the Ziraat Turkey Cup match-ups, for one week following a gun attack on Fenerbahçe’s team bus on April 4, which left the bus driver seriously wounded.

“All club leaders demanded delaying all games for one week,” said Yıldırım Demirören, head of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), after a marathon of meetings with football officials and Sports Minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç. Demirören said all club presidents were willing to respond to the attack on Fenerbahçe and Turkish football. The federation did not postpone the past week’s closing game between Beşiktaş and Istanbul Başakşehir Spor Kulübü, which was scheduled to be played last night, as the decision was only valid starting April 7.

Prosecutors launched a probe into the assault that occurred while the Yellow Canaries were heading to Trabzon to catch their Istanbul-bound plane after beating Rizespor of neighboring Rize 5-1. The probe is for allegedly attempting to kill more than one person with intent and damaging property. A shotgun and other items were found at the scene.

The bus driver, Ufuk Kıran, was reportedly struck by broken glass caused by bullets hitting the team bus’ windows, resulting in him losing control of the vehicle while proceeding along a viaduct. Serdal Kılıç, a team security official sitting next to Kıran, managed to press the brakes and prevent the bus from careening over the edge of the bridge.

Although shaken by the incident, no other Fenerbahçe players or officials suffered physical injuries in the attack. The 19-time Turkish league champion Fenerbahçe does not want to go onto the pitch until the attack is explained, the club said in a separate April 6 statement.

‘No meaning anymore’

“The Fenerbahçe sports club has fulfilled all its responsibilities in this incident and expects the probe will be finalized with similar care. We do not intend to play football until this incident is explained,” said Fenerbahçe official Deniz Tolga Aytöre during a press conference in Istanbul.

“These games have no meaning anymore. No championship and no victory are more important than human life,” he said, adding it fell upon the state to find the perpetrators. This is an assassination attempt against Fenerbahçe, he said, adding the club does not consider the incident an extension of a recent row with Trabzonspor about a debated league title in 2011 due to a rigging case, but rather as an act of terror.

Şekip Mostralıoğlu, another Fenerbahçe official, said the suspension’s duration should be limited to the resolution of the crime. Gökhan Gümüşdağ, head of the club’s union, said he was confident all suspects would be arrested. One person was detained late on April 5 in connection with the attack, authorities said April 6.
April/06/2015