Turgay Demirel
| Turgay Demirel | |
|---|---|
| President of FIBA Europe | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1957 İstanbul, Turkey |
| Spouse(s) | Şebnem Demirel (m. 1985) |
| Alma mater | Middle East Technical University |
Turgay Demirel (born 1957, in Istanbul, Turkey) is the President of FIBA Europe and the Former President of the Turkish Basketball Federation. He is a leading figure in international basketball.
Turgay Demirel was born in Istanbul in 1957. He graduated from the German High School in Istanbul and studied engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara.
He became interested in basketball as a teenager with the support of his uncle, former national team player and Galatasaray President Prof. Dr. Ali Uras. Demirel first honed his skills on the court behind Uras’s apartment.
"My basketball story started with that hoop and after that I continued playing with my friends in Florya," Demirel has said.
His professional basketball career spanned 13 years, most of which he spent with Istanbul club Galatasaray. He retired as Galatasaray team captain in 1988 after having won two national championships. He also represented Turkey in international competition 41 times.
During his playing career Demirel also took his first steps towards a successful business career, which included representing international companies such as Mikasa and Reebok in Turkey.
In 1992 he became the first elected President of the Turkish Basketball Federation. He has been re-elected six times, most recently in September 2012. He is also the Founder and President of the Foundation for Development and Education of Turkish Basketball.
Turkish basketball has undergone a dramatic transformation under Demirel’s leadership. In 1992 the Turkish Basketball Federation consisted of a three-person staff with a $600,000 annual budget.
Today the Turkish Basketball Federation has an annual budget of $70–75 million. Basketball is the country’s second-most popular sport, and Turkey has become a force in both international men’s and women’s basketball. The Turkish men’s national team won silver at the Men’s Eurobasket in 2001 and finished sixth in the 2006 World Championship. It won silver at the 2010 World Championship, losing in the finals to the United States in the largest sporting event ever hosted on Turkish soil.
FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann described it as “the most successful FIBA World Championship ever.”
Today Turkey’s men’s national team is ranked 7th in FIBA’s international standings.
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Wikipedia