The senior women's national basketball team have begun training for two FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 Qualifying games in Istanbul. Head Coach Aziz Akkaya's team faces the Romanians in Cluj on Feb. 20 and the Israelis in Tel Aviv on Feb. 24. Turkey earned victories in their first two qualifying tests last November, defeating Israel 72-53 and Bosnia and Herzegovina 79-50. Romania are also 2-0, while Israel are 0-2 in Group H. "We want to go two-for-two in these games and guarantee that we will finish the group in first place," Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) Director of Sport Barbaros Akkaş said. "We have the necessary depth on our roster to achieve this." Turkey named 15 players to the candidate roster for the FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 qualifiers. Stalwarts Işıl Alben, Şaziye İvegin Üner, and Bahar Çağlar are joined by younger players including Olcay Çakır, Ayşe Cora, Tilbe Şenyürek, and Cansu Köksal.
"Because we don't have very much time we started training this morning," team manager Arzu Özyiğit said. "To have our team ready we couldn't take a break. I believe that this camp, like the previous ones, will be a success."
Among the players not with the national team for this qualifying window are two-time EuroBasket Women medalists and Olympians Nevriye Yılmaz and Birsel Vardarlı Demirmen.
"With respect to Birsel Vardarlı Demirmen and Nevriye Yılmaz not being on the roster, due to some injuries and for the purposes of rest, we gave them these games off," Akkaş said. "When the league concludes, all of our players will be invited to training camp in preparation for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and be on the court."
