Ergin Ataman believes in the future success of the national team

The national team, which finished second after losing to Germany in the final of the European Basketball Championship held in Riga, the capital of Latvia, has returned to Istanbul. Speaking to members of the press at Istanbul Airport, Ergin Ataman stated that they were happy to have united and excited the Turkish people.

Ataman said, "We are happy that we united the Turkish people, gave everyone excitement, and carried our team to the final. We made the whole world listen to our National Anthem live at the beginning of the match. We wanted to win the cup and make them listen to it at the end of the match as well. We played very well. We had control of the match for 38 minutes, but in the end, perhaps there was a panic to win, a comfort given to Germany by being the reigning world champions, or perhaps it was just bad luck on our part. Sometimes you need luck on your side in those moments. We had a tremendous tournament. We achieved incredible victories against Serbia and Greece. We played very well in the Germany match but lost. I am a person accustomed to winning and being a champion. History writes the champions, but this team will one day be European champions as well. Hopefully, we will make that happen too. For now, we are in second place. I congratulate Germany."

Emphasizing the support of the Turkish people who are proud of the national team's performance, Ataman stated, "We know that we are the champions of hearts, but we will also be the real champions. We came very close to this. We gave it away in the last 2 minutes. The day will come when we will take this too. Turkish sports, the Turkish athlete, and Turkish basketball have proven and shown that they can achieve this. We have a very young team. This squad will continue for at least another 4 years. We have a World Championship ahead of us. We couldn't win the European championship, but who knows, maybe we will win the world championship. Our goal will always continue. I would like to thank everyone very much for their support."

News Source: 12punto