Press release

"Neslihan is our real star" says Turkey's spiker Bahar Toksoy

Neslihan Darnel was once again Turkey's main force along the way to a 3-0 win over 2011 European champions Serbia

London, Great Britain, August 1, 2012 – With Sports Minister Suat Kilic in attendance, Turkey’s national team celebrated its first win on Olympic stage at Earls Court. Coach Marco Aurelio Motta was visibly and understandably satisfied with the result: “All matches have a different story and in this group all teams can beat each other. In the first match with Brazil we gave away too many points while the group played more balanced on Monday against China. As for Serbia, they have quite many players injured at the moment. We play them quite often; today we fought our best”. Turkey’s next stop will be against Korea: “They have probably the best player of the tournament, Kim Yeon-Koung, it will be a tough match but I believe we can beat them. The match with USA will be tough too and we need to take three points from the next two matches to make it to the 1/4 finals”.

Turkey’s spiker Bahar Toksoy added: “We were very sad after losing to China on Monday so this win makes us very happy, especially because they are our big rivals in Europe. This is a long tournament and you have ups and downs but today it was great and we are a happy team”. About Neslihan Darnel, who was Turkey’s flag-bearer for the opening ceremony of the Olympics: “She is our star; her daughter, who is only 4 years old, cried after we lost to China but today she is a happy kid”.

“We have played a lot of times against Turkey and they are always difficult and interesting games” commented Serbia coach Zoran Terzic. “Today, what can I say - when you come to the Olympics and lose all your opening games it is disappointing”.

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