Basketball EM
Fight in the cabin: Ugly scenes break out between Turkey and Georgia
In Turkey’s game against Georgia in Tbilisi, things were obviously more tangible than in this scene
© Imago Images
At the European Basketball Championship, there were violent clashes in the game between Turkey and host Georgia: According to reports, players and the police fought.
A scandal broke out on Sunday evening at the European Basketball Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia. According to several media reports, there was a physical altercation in the dressing room after hosts Georgia defeated Turkey 88-83. According to the Turkish assistant coach, the Turkish professional Furkan Korkmaz is said to have messed with three Georgians.
Korkmaz clashed on the pitch with Georgia’s Duda Sanadze, both of whom were disqualified by the referees. After that, the situation escalated. “When Furkan was walking down the hall towards the changing room, he was attacked by non-squad Georgian players and the disqualified Georgian and some police officers,” Omer Onan, the vice-president of the Turkish FA, described the scene from his point of view. “A player who is on his way to the locker room should not be attacked. After the end of the game, around 30 police officers got into a fight with us. You have to imagine that – we got into a fight with the Georgian police,” quoted the “World” the Turkish official.
Turkey threatens to leave Georgia
The Turkish federation threatened to leave Tbilisi. “If we don’t get the security camera footage, we will leave this tournament,” Onan later said. For Turkey, the narrow defeat after two overtime was the first of the tournament. There had already been heated arguments on the field between players from both teams.