Turkish b-ball team's Olympic hopes shattered, eliminated in quals

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish national basketball team's hopes for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics faded on Sunday over a 81-63 loss to Greece in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Saturday.

Greece eliminated Turkey in the semifinals to reach the final against the Czech Republic in the city of Victoria in Canada.

Turkey's Furkan Korkmaz scored 20 points and Alperen Sengun racked up 12 points against Greece. Korkmaz and Sengun were the only Turkish players to reach double digits in points section.

Greek playmaker Nick Calathes scored 18 points, while guard Kostas Sloukas had 15.

Georgios Papagiannis made a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Similar to Papagiannis, Giannoulis Larentzakis scored 14 points for Greece as well.

The other finalists Czech Republic knocked the hosts out of the tournament as they barely beat Canada 103-101 in overtime in Victoria on Saturday.

Czech guard Tomas Satoransky scored a two-point winner with 1.8 seconds to go as his team bagged their final ticket.

Either the Czech Republic or Greece will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, set to start on July 23.​​​​​​​

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