Turkey awarded right to host 2014 Women's Basketball Championship

Turkey will host the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women after getting the nod over Australia for the honor, world basketball’s governing body announced Sunday.

FIBA announced the decision to award Turkey the biggest international women’s basketball tournament following its Central Board meeting in Lyon, France.

"We had two outstanding bids, with both countries doing an amazing job of giving the board very good reasons to believe they were very capable of hosting the event and having it be a great success," said FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann. "The quality of the two bids is testament to the growth of women's basketball."

Turkey won the bidding with an overwhelming 16-4.

The group stages of the tournament are to be played in the Darüşşafaka Ayhan Şahenk Sports Hall and the Fenerbahçe Ülker Arena, while the final match venue is yet to be decided, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Turkey hosted last summer’s FIBA Men’s World Championship. The two-week tournament took place in four cities, Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Kayseri. The final match was played in the newly-built Sinan Erdem Dome, which will probably stage the 2014 event’s final.

The news agency also said Turkey would become the first country in the last 15 years to host both the men’s and women’s World Basketball Championships.

The chairman of the Turkish Basketball Federation said the country was aided by its strong hosting of the 2010 Men’s Championship.

"A great majority of the FIBA Central Board supported us with the belief that we will put on a very successful organization just like we did in the 2010 FIBA Men’s World Championship," Turgay Demirel said in a statement to the federation’s website. “We had a really difficult opponent in Australia, who was the world champion in 2006 and a three-time medalist, as well as hosting the Olympic Games in 2000 and the World Basketball Championship in 1994.

"We are happy to win our bid over such a strong candidate."

Demirel said Turkey was almost "ready" for the tournament.

"During our presentations, we said our sports halls were ready for the tournament; we will do our utmost to increase spectators [in women’s basketball] and our national team will represent our country very well. We hope that it will be an organization as successful as the 2010 event," Demirel said.

Unlike the Men’s Championship, the 2014 competition will be played in only one city, and the federation’s choice was obvious.

"During the candidacy, we presented Istanbul – our most organized city both strategically and logistically and the one where all the sports halls are ready," Demirel said.

The Australian side also presented a one-city bid in Melbourne.

Turkey claimed the silver medal in the 2010 Men’s Championship to post its biggest achievement in basketball, and the 2014 competition may have the same impact on the women’s game, a TBF board member said.

"The 2014 organization will create a great acceleration for women’s basketball," Jülide Sonat of the TBF told Anatolia. “I am already excited about it. We will host an amazing tournament."


/Hurriyet Daily News/