A new edition of the U-16 Türk Telekom Tournament will start tomorrow in Gaziantep, a turkish city close to the border with Syria. Twelve national teams will play shared in two groups. But not only european squads, also non-european. Let's take a look to the teams and what interesting prospects we can find there.
Group A:
-Turkey: Kenan Sipahi ('95), usually playing for Tofas first team, will be there. The guard, ranked #1 of his generation at Eurohopes, can be the main attraction with his teammate James Metecan Birsen ('95). Also interesting are 2.09 center Emircan Kosut ('95) and guard Cedi Osman ('95).
-Germany: Guard David Taylor ('95), son of former player and current Nuernberger coach Derrick, is one of their interesting prospects. Beside him, important follow their tallest player: 2.09 center Daniel Mayr ('95).
-Russia: One of the favorites for the title behind a group of prospects led by 2.07 Konstantin Kulikov ('95) and guards Alexander Martynov ('95) and Vasily Martynov ('95). Vyacheslav Fedorchenko ('95), also interesting.
-Ukraine: 2.03 center Andrey Kharchinskiy ('95) will try to continue his progression. Forward Vladen Berezhnyy ('95), who sent us good sensations last summer in Tallinn, is not in the roster.
-Romania: Guard Mehmet Hortoglu ('95) and forward Vlad Cobzaru ('95), some of their most important pieces.
-Puerto Rico: Completely unknown for us. No players over 1.98.
Group B:
-France: With many players growing in the INSEP they will try to make a good performance in Gaziantep. Forward Damien Inglis ('95), with many options to fight for the MVP award.
-Slovenia: Another favorite squad for the title, with prospects like tiny point-guard Aleksej Nikolic ('95), shooting machine Luka Kokol ('95). Let's see if youngster Nejc Zupan ('96) will play some minutes.
-Bulgaria: Forward Aleksandar Vezenkov ('95), currently playing for Aris (Greece), their best player. He is their tallest player being a SF.
-Georgia: Rimini forward Giga Janelidze ('95) is not in the roster. The rest? Only two players reaching the 2.00m in a 23-men list.
-Iran: Unknown for us.
-China: Unknown for us, but impressive with 2.15 center Qi Zhou ('96) and 2.10 center Ning Pan ('95).
Photo: FIBA Europe / Marko Metlas
