The Turkish basketball league rolled on as usual this past weekend.

For Farhiya Abdis and Frida Eldebrinks Botas, it ended with a loss of 60-86 away to Cankaya, in a match played without a crowd.

- When we started to see that all leagues were closed down, I thought we would also close down. We talked about it in the team. But then our team captain got an email from the league saying that we would play last Saturday but not shake hands with opponents or referees. That in itself is a bit comical. It was like playing on a workout five against five. Nice in a way, but it just feels really strange, says Farhiya Abdi.

When SVT Sport reaches her on Monday morning, the 27-year-old has just completed a workout with the team. At present, the idea is that Botas will play match again this weekend.

- I think we should follow the rest of the world and end the season. But it does not work like this but here it is about politics and they have too much money to lose. We drive as usual and I haven't heard anything new. I know some in the men's league who refuse to play, but otherwise everything is up and running.

Don't run out of paper towels

The official statistics say that only 18 people were affected by the corona virus in Turkey, a country with just over 80 million inhabitants. A figure the Swedish basketball pros bring with a pinch of salt.

- Yes, I don't believe that. Take Istanbul as an example. There are a lot of flights in between. It's incredible if there are so few. But this is it (In Turkey) and you want to keep it that way. Which is really sick. I have thought about going home, but now they have closed all flights between Turkey and Sweden. I'm not afraid of getting sick, but I'm worried about the information we don't get. Should you go out? Should you stay inside? Nobody knows.

Do you feel that the corona virus affects everyday life in Turkey?

- It is not so that it is running out of paper directly. It feels like they don't know what corona is here, like it didn't happen. Nobody takes it seriously.

You are a teammate with Frida Eldebrink. Are you talking about what's going on?

- We talk about this every day .. we take it day by day for us. Frida wants to go home and we are both worried about the information. We don't want to get stuck here. We go and exercise every day, but it feels pointless. We don't know what's going on. If the borders are completely closed, we must not leave the country.