Fenerbahçe angry about court ban

ISTANBUL

Fenerbahçe heavily reacted the Basketball Federation’s order the club to play two games behind closed doors. AA photo

Fenerbahçe is upset it will have to wait further for the opening of its long-awaited Ülker Arena due to a ban implemented by the Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF).

The TBF announced Jan. 5 the Turkish men’s basketball team would have to play two home games behind closed doors due to crowd trouble in a derby game against Galatasaray Medical Park Dec. 31, 2011.
The ban forced the team to delay its opening of the newly-built Ülker Arena, which was scheduled for the Jan. 7 match against Anadolu Efes. Following the indictment, Fenerbahçe Ülker will have to wait to premiere its arena with the EuroLeague match against Emporio Armani of Italy Jan. 25.

The derby was interrupted several times due to objects being thrown from the stands.

Fenerbahçe has heavily criticized the decision with a statement released on its website, saying “[The TBF] ignored that the referees provoked the incidents.”

Meanwhile, the Galatasaray Medical Park women’s basketball team has paid a total of 20,000 euros because the team’s forward Diana Taurasi’s shorts did not meet requirements as specified by EuroLeague Women, the daily Hürriyet reported. Taurasi was wearing a longer short than was required in the competition and the club has paid 2,000 euros for every one of 10 games she was on the court.