A scandal erupted at the European Basketball Championship, which has not been equaled recently in major tournaments.
An ordinary skirmish on the parquet between Furkan Korkmaz and Duda Sanadze not only turned into an uncivilized showdown outside the parquet, but also served as a reason for serious proceedings, including due to the fact that the judges did not stop the countdown timer in time.
The beginning of the conflict was a game moment in the middle of the final quarter: the Georgian defender broke the rules on the Turkish forward, who was trying to throw the ball into the ring.
The incident on this could have been settled if Sanadze, passing by Korkmaz, had not uttered an insulting phrase in his address.
The latter flared up and rushed to deal with the offender, but the partners and judges jointly pushed the players away from each other and did not allow a fight to happen.
In order to avoid further provocations, the arbitrators issued technical fouls to the basketball players and removed them from the site, after which they went to the locker rooms.
However, in the corridor, according to the Turkish team, Korkmaz and one of the coaches of the national team were attacked by three Georgian basketball players, as well as local policemen (the match was held in Tbilisi).
According to media reports, Sanadze, Gogo Bitadze and Tornike Shengelia were among the attackers.
“When Furkan Korkmaz and one of our coaches were walking along the corridor to the locker rooms, the players of the Georgian national team, who were not included in the application for the match, attacked him along with a remote basketball player and the police.
You can not attack a person who goes to the locker room.
At the end of the match, 30 police officers provoked us into a fight.
We had to fight with the Georgian police, ”Omer Onan, vice president of the Turkish Basketball Federation and silver medalist of the 2010 World Cup, told the details of the incident.
According to him, the police at the end of the match roughly pushed the entire team into the locker room, allegedly for security reasons.
He stated that he appealed to the international federation (FIBA) with a demand to understand what had happened, and also threatened to boycott the competition.
“Don't be fooled or take us for idiots.
They'll provide us with minute-by-minute footage from the cameras in that hallway with no missing pieces.
If this data from the cameras is not given to us, we will leave the championship, ”the functionary emphasized.
Turkish national team assistant coach Hokan Demir said that the team did not expect such a disrespectful attitude from the host side and was concerned about the weak security system that they witnessed.
In addition, according to the expert, the scandal that broke out casts a shadow on the sport as a whole.
“We came to play, not to fight.
Such things do not correspond to the spirit of sports.
There was supposed to be a regular basketball game, but unfortunately, what happened is beyond the scope of basketball.
We have two more games left to play in Georgia, and, unfortunately, what happened in the corridors today is contrary to the sporting spirit.
We expected a more polite attitude, but, unfortunately, everything turned out differently, ”he said at the post-match press conference.
The coach of the Georgian team, Elias Zuros, refused to comment on the brawl in the room under the stands, saying that he had not heard anything about it.
And one of the direct participants in the conflict, Duda Sanadze, said that Korkmaz himself urged him to continue the showdown outside the playground.
However, he did not confirm that he said something offensive to the opponent.
“I said it was a stupid foul and he reacted like that!
To be honest, it really surprised me when we suddenly found ourselves face to face.
He kept shouting and insisting that we meet in the locker room.
It was a very unfortunate incident.
We are a friendly country, and this should not have happened, but at that moment everyone’s emotions were at the limit, ”Totalbasket quotes Sanadze.
In turn, Furkan Korkmaz stressed that he considers everything that happened - both on the site and outside it - absolutely unacceptable.
According to him, he was attacked by Georgian players and guards on the way to the locker room and tried to defend himself.
“Eren Hangyun felt that something was going to happen, so I didn’t stand alone.
But even what happened is unacceptable.
No one can talk to me like that, and whoever dares will get an answer right away.
I don't like to see such connivance in such an organization.
Everything was in turmoil during the fight.
There were Georgian players and security.
The guards did not try to separate us, ”Championship” quotes Korkmaz.
After the incident, the Georgian basketball player closed his personal pages on social networks.
FIBA Europe initially declined to comment officially, but has launched an investigation into the incident, according to CNN.
In addition, the issue of a replay may be raised, as due to the turmoil caused by the brawl, the match time was reduced by 22 seconds.
As a result, the meeting ended with an unexpected victory for the Georgian team with a score of 88:83 after the second overtime, but the Turkish team filed a protest against the result.
Demar noted that such a blatant violation of timing forced the Turkish side to believe that this situation was not a simple mistake.
However, he did not claim that this moment had a significant impact on the outcome of the meeting.
“The Georgian team, of course, became the winner of the match, I congratulate them on their victory, but that's not the point.
What matters is what happened in the corridors.
We expected that we had come to a brotherly country.
Yes, there was tension between the players on the court, but we cannot accept what happened next.
On the basketball court, tensions between players can take place, but off the court they must maintain friendly relations.
It is sad that law enforcement officers also participated in the incident, ”concluded the coach.