A new edition of the U-16 Türk Telekom Tournament started today in turkish city of Gaziantep, close to the border with Syria. Twelve national teams will fight during a week for the title. In the opener France and Turkey showed their potential, while bulgarian forward Aleksandar Vezenkov ('95), from Aris (Greece), wasn't enough to beat China even his 43 points, 16 rebounds and 4 assists. Other big names of this first day are russians Viacheslav Fedorchenko ('95) and Konstantin Kulikov ('95), turkish James Metecan Birsen ('95), french Damien Inglis ('95) and slovenians Luka Kokol ('95) and Aleksej Nikolic ('95). There are also highlights attached in the games recaps. Watch them!   

 

Group A:

 

Ukraine 61 Germany 73: A great first half (+18) gave the first win in turkish tournament to Germany in this opening day. The fouls trouble killed David Taylor ('95), even the guard didn't waste his time and in only 12 minutes nailed 10 points (5/7 FG), with 3 steals and 2 assists. But the best at winners side has been guard Janis Stielow ('95), from Pinneberg, with 15 (7/11 FG), 4 rebounds and 1 assist. Ukranians fought in the second and third periods with a good percentage from 3 points line (46%), but wasn't enough. 2.00 forward Anton Dzyuba ('95), from Kyivs'ki Vedmedi, tallied 16 points and grabbed 5 boards in 24'. Yevgeniy Belotsenko ('95) scored 11 with a great 3/3 from downtown (watch highlights).

 

Puerto Rico 55 Russia 69: An unknown american squad suffered the russian power in the third quarter (11-27), led by Viacheslav Fedorchenko ('95), from CSKA Moscow. The guard ended the contest with 24 points (7/13 FG), 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Beside him 2.07 center Konstantin Kulikov ('95) flirted with the triple-double in only 23 minutes: 17 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocks. The tallest team used that to win. Alexander Martynov ('95) added 10 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist (watch highlights).

 

Turkey 87 Romania 57: Turkish are the first leader of the group due to their great performance against romanians. With Cedi Osman ('95) as the local prospect with more minutes (13 points with 2/4 threes and 5 steals in 23') hosts didn't have problems to add their first victory with five players in double-figures. Turkey had bad percentages, but crashed the rival with 66 rebounds (35 for Romania). Rising star James Metecan Birsen ('95) showed his potential: 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 16 minutes. Who shined at the other side? Tiny 1.75 point-guard Caslan Todorov ('95) had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, while guard Mehmet Hortoglu ('95) had 17, but with 6/18 FG. Romanians ended with 28% on twos (watch highlights).

 

Group B:

 

France 89 Georgia 51: French team started strong, becoming the first leader of group B. No chances for Georgia (-18 at half time), shocking against forward Damien Inglis ('95), from INSEP, who ended with 20 points (8/12 FG), 6 rebounds and 3 steals in 21 minutes. Guard Olivier Yao-delon ('95) scored 13 with 6 rebounds in 16' and 1.75 point-guard Arthur Rozenfeld ('95) had 11 with 3 assists and 3 steals. For georgians, Beka Darakhvelidze ('95) finished as their best scorer with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 3/4 from downtown. Beside him shined Sandro Bolkvadze ('95) with 13 and 2/3 threes. 25% for them on twos. Crazy (watch highlights).

 

Bulgaria 66 China 91: One of the main attractions of the tournament, 2.15 Qi Zhou ('96), was key in the first defeat of bulgarians with 26 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. But the best individual performance of the game (and the day) was for Aleksandar Vezenkov ('95), currently playing in Greece (Aris). The forward, without resting, scored 43 points (14/20 twos, 1/9 threes and 12/18 ft), 16 rebounds and 4 assists. No comment. But not enough either. 2/16 from downtown and 25 turnovers didn't help them. No other player scored more than 8 points (watch highlights).

 

Iran 60 Slovenia 71: Slovenia, with many interesting prospects, made a good first step beating another unknown team led by two great performances of guard Aleksej Nikolic ('95) and Luka Kokol ('95). The point-guard scored 23 with 3/5 threes and 3 assists, and the guard ended with 21, 3/6 from downtown and 7 rebounds. Iran started strong (23-11), but the great slovenian period (8-27) killed them. Great job from 3 points line (10/23), forgetting the 29% on twos (watch highlights).

 

Photo: Tournament Official Website