Osman, Korkmaz poised for Turkey return after being named among candidates for Victoria OQT
ISTANBUL (Turkey) - Cedi Osman and Furkan Korkmaz are set to return for Turkey at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Victoria, Canada, after being named among the 29 candidates for the team.
ISTANBUL (Turkey) - Cedi Osman and Furkan Korkmaz are set to return for Turkey at this summer's FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Victoria, Canada, after being named among the 29 candidates for the team.
The linchpins are joined by naturalized guard Shane Larkin, who led the country in qualifying for FIBA EuroBasket 2022 after averaging a team best 15.0 points and 7.0 assists per game.
A Erkek Milli Takımımızın, 29 Haziran - 4 Temmuz 2021 tarihleri arasında Kanada’nın Victoria şehrinde düzenlenecek FIBA Erkekler Olimpiyat Elemeleri için aday kadrosu belli oldu!
— TBF (@TBF) May 18, 2021
🇹🇷 İşte Milli Takım! 🇹🇷https://t.co/k59JuB1vqH#BizBirlikteyiz pic.twitter.com/LRAa3xmMxg
Like Osman and Korkmaz, Ersan Ilyasova was a leading player in the Turkey team that nearly upset the USA at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. He has also been included on the wider list of players for the OQT.
Among the rising stars of Turkish basketball, Alperen Sengun has been included. The 2.06m (6ft 9in) power forward, who is only 18, led Turkey on the boards in the EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers. He had an average of 7.3 rebounds to go with his 12 points per game.
| Turkey's 29 candidates for FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament | ||||
| Ege Arar | Yigit Arslan | Metecan Birsen | Onuralp Bitim | Berk Demir |
| Berkan Durmaz | Tolga Gecim | Samet Geyik | Egemen Guven | Furkan Haltali |
| Sehmus Hazer | Omer Can Ilyasoglu | Ersan Ilyasova | Sadik Emir Kabaca | Goksenin Koksal |
| Furkan Korkmaz | Shane Larkin | Melih Mahmutoglu | Ayberk Olmaz | Cedi Osman |
| Dogus Ozdemiroglu | Kartal Ozmizrak | Sertac Sanli | Alperen Sengun | Bugrahan Tuncer |
| Berk Ugurlu | Muhsin Yasar | Erkan Yilmaz | Omer Faruk Yurtseven | |
At the OQT, Turkey will play in Group B against Uruguay on June 29 and the Czech Republic on June 30. In Group A will be Canada, Greece and China. The top two teams in each group advance to the Semi-Finals.
Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia are hosting the other OQTs.
Only the winners of the four OQT Finals, which will be played on July 4, will clinch places in the Tokyo Games and join Spain, Argentina, France, Australia, USA, Iran, Nigeria and Japan in the Olympic field.
Turkey played in the 2016 OQT in Manila and reached the Semi-Finals.
FIBA