Filed under: FIBA, FIBA World Championship
ANKARA, Turkey -- Greece vs. Turkey historically has made North Carolina-Duke look like a friendly game of backgammon. But when a group of 50 visiting Greek fans were allowed to hang one banner in hostile territory Tuesday at Ankara Arena, a message of peace was chosen.
The banner read in Greek and then was translated into English underneath, "We are neighbors, not enemies.''
That wasn't all. Many of the Greek fans wore T-shirts that had a similar phrase and showed an interlocking puzzle, with one piece being the Greek flag and the other the Turkish flag.
"We want to show that sports should unite,'' said Kostas Tsibogiannis, 53, a flower importer in Athens and one of the organizers of the Greek fans who traveled to Turkey for the FIBA World Championship.
That doesn't mean, of course, Tsibogiannis didn't desperately want his team to win. Speaking at halftime, when Greece trailed Turkey 41-39, Tsibogiannis sought to correct a reporter who asked "if'' Greece were to win.
"You mean, 'When we win,' " Tsibogiannis said.
Well, that didn't happen. Behind 26 points from Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova, Turkey scored a pivotal 76-65 win to move very close to locking up Group C. Turkey raised its record to 3-0 while Greece fell to 2-1.
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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/08/31/turkey-greece-game-not-just-a-game/
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