Turkish Basketball Federation President Hidayet Türkoğlu said on Tuesday he is confident that Türkiye will gain the right to play in the 2024 Olympic qualifying tournament by taking advantage of hosting the event.
"We are a federation that always organizes such events," Türkoğlu said. "We have a very successful team. FIBA wants to benefit from our experience at every opportunity. Playing the Olympic qualifying matches in front of a home audience excites us."
The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament will be held at Sinan Erdem Sports Hall in Istanbul from Aug. 12-20. The top three teams in the tournament will qualify for the 2024 Olympics.
Türkoğlu said Türkiye has a young but talented team that is capable of qualifying for the Olympics.
"We have a very successful coach (Ergin Ataman)," Türkoğlu said. "I believe that we will have a good camp process and have the opportunity to play the Olympic qualifying matches. This will add a lot of value to us."
Türkoğlu also spoke about the Basketball Development Center, which is under construction on the site of Abdi Ipekçi Sports Hall. The center is expected to open in January-February 2024.
"The latest situation is very pleasing," Türkoğlu said. "We are more excited that something emerges every day. The biggest thanks are always reserved for our president. He has been following the project closely since the first day. Our ministers also expressed that the construction process needs to be expedited. We will have the opportunity to follow all the teams closely. We will have more time to camp. I hope we will induce this facility into Turkish basketball as soon as possible. We anticipate that we will have it open in January-February 2024. This makes us very happy. We have very good plans for that place."
Türkoğlu also commented on the agreement between FIBA and the Europa League to prevent the clash of national team and club competitions for the 2023-2024 season.
"We are very happy," Türkoğlu said. "That process was damaging to European basketball. It was a process that brought clubs and federations against each other and did not benefit stakeholders. We rectified this process. We always managed players invited into the national team. I hope that in the coming years, different dimensions of these agreements will be realized and add value to European basketball every day. I wish both sides a good start."
Finally, Türkoğlu analyzed the third place that the Under-19 national team achieved in the World Cup.
"We are very happy to crown the fruits of a project we initiated about six years ago with such success," Türkoğlu said. "Last year, the Under-18 national team featured well in the championship held in our country. We are happy to continue with the same generation and coming third in the world. Congratulations to Fikret Doğan and his team for this achievement. This age generation makes us approach the next years with more hope. These young people will don this jersey in the best way at the national level."
Türkoğlu's comments come as Türkiye prepares for a busy summer of basketball. In addition to hosting the Olympic qualifying tournament, Türkiye will also participate in the EuroBasket tournament in September.