On the eve of the "Prometey" start at international tournament "Pinap Cup 2022"

БК "Прометей" - БК "Фенербахче"

BC "Prometey" - BC "Fenerbahce" (Istanbul, Turkey). September 23. 20:00. International tournament Pinar Cup 2022. Second game day. Izmir (Turkey). "Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Karshiyaka Spor Salonu". Broadcast - YouTube channel "DIVISPORT BASKETBALL".


The preparation of "Prometheus" for the next season is gradually coming to the end. Already on Saturday, October 1, our team will start in the Latvian-Estonian basketball league, and this week for it will go under the sign of the representative international tournament Pinar Cup 2022. It will take place from September 22 to 24 in the Turkish city of Izmir, and its organizer is the local club "Pinar Karshijaka".


In addition to the hosts of the tournament and our "Prometey", the second representative of Turkey - the club "Fenerbahce" from Istanbul - will take part in the tournament. On September 23, Ronen Ginzburg's team will play their first match at the Pinar Cup against “Fenerbahce”. For the grandee of Turkish basketball, this will be the second and final match in the one-round competition, as today, on September 22, they will play with "Pinar Karsiyaka". The Pinar Cup will end on September 24 with the match between “Prometey and “Pinar Karshiyaka”.


On the one hand, tomorrow's confrontation between "Prometey" and "Fenerbahce" does not extend beyond the boundaries of a regular preparatory match. On the other hand, it will be, without any exaggeration, historic for our team, as for the first time since the formation of "Prometey" in 2018, the team will play not only with a permanent participant of the most prestigious continental club competition - the Euroleague, but with a club whose track record includes a victory in this tournament.


This great success of "Fenerbahçe" happened in the 2016/2017 season, when in the final match of the Euroleague "Canaries" (the affectionate nickname of the club's players) beat the Greek "Olympiakos" with a score of 80:64. The season before, as well as in the 2017/2018 Euroleague draw, the Istanbul club also played in the finals of the tournament, but lost to their opponent in the decisive match. In the first case, it happened in the overtime of the confrontation with the Russian CSKA (96:101), and in the second, the same "-5" (80:85) were recorded as a result of the 40-minute battle with the Madrid "Real".


Twice more (in the 2014/2015 and 2018/2019 seasons) the 13-time champion of Turkey and 7-time winner of the country's Cup played in the Final Four of the Euroleague, but the last three regular seasons in the league were not so successful - twice they reached 8th place and last season the 12th.


Instead, the 2021/2022 season for "Fenerbahçe" was marked by the fact that the long-time grandee of Turkish basketball, after a 4-year break, again became the best team of their country. In the final series with a score of 3:1, the club from Istanbul beat their main competitor in recent years, "Anadolu Efes".


Comparing to the last championship season, the composition of the team of top European specialist Greek Dimitris Itoudis has changed significantly. Among the numerous losses, the departure from the club of stars Nando De Colo and Achille Polonara stand out. The former joined the French ASVEL, and the latter became a player of the main competitor - "Anadolu Efes". However, the acquisitions are also impressive. For instance, the most experienced Greek defender Nick Kalathes, as well as a number of strong Americans, became a Fenerbahce players. Forward Nigel Hayes, like Nick Calathes, came from "Barcelona", effective guard Scotty Wilbekin - from "Maccabi" (Tel Aviv). The track record of point guard Carsen Edwards includes performances for the NBA clubs "Boston Celtics" and "Detroit Pistons". The last place of work of heavy forward Jonathan Motley, center Devin Booker and his colleague in the role Nigerian Tony Jekiri were clubs from Russia. Guards Sekmus Hazer and Melis Mahmutoglu stand out among the local players of Fenerbahce. Both of them are playing in Istanbul not for the first season, and recently defended the honor of the Turkish National team at EuroBasket.


Without any doubts, the match against Fenerbahce will be an excellent test for “Prometey” readiness for the upcoming season. It is unlikely to be missed by real connoisseurs of basketball, even more - by a fan of "Prometey"! It will be possible to follow the course of events in the match thanks to the video broadcast on the "DIVISPORT BASKETBALL" YouTube channel, starting at 20:00.