Furious Turkish basketball officials threaten to withdraw from EuroBasket after Furkan Korkmaz was allegedly attacked by multiple Georgian players and police officers postgame on Sunday.
The incident occurred after Korkmaz and Duda Sanadze were both ejected over a heated scuffle late in a double-overtime thriller that Georgia ultimately won 88-83.
Never saw this fire under Furkan Korkmazpic.twitter.com/r58IYiASAg
— Paul C (@HurtsyIvania) September 4, 2022
Now, Turkish federation vice president Ömer Onan says the team will pack their bags immediately if security footage isn’t released:
“While Furkan Korkmaz was walking in the hallway to the locker rooms with our trainer, Georgia’s players who were not on the active roster attacked him together with the ejected player (Duda Sanadze) and the police,” Onan said. “There should not be an attack on the player that goes to the locker room. At the end of the match, 30 policemen each pushed us into a fight. We got into a fight with Georgia’s official police.
“I am calling out to FIBA and I have also told FIBA’s officials. Let no one deceive themselves or think that we are stupid. They will bring us all the camera footage from that corridor minute by minute without anything missing. We will leave this tournament if those cameras do not come to us.”
Turkey assistant coach Hakan Demir was similarly livid following the altercation.
“We came here to play basketball, not box,” Demir said. “We are very disturbed by the security weakness experienced today. We will follow up on this issue as well.”
Korkmaz reportedly avoided injury, according to CBS3 Philadelphia’s Pat Gallen.
Meanwhile, Turkey has also formally protested the game’s result, claiming 22 seconds were wiped from the clock during the on-court scuffle.
Image Source: photoyh / Shutterstock
