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In the last quarter final of the day the home nation Brazil took on current World Champions Bronze medallists Turkey.
Turkey led by Ozgur Gurbula went ahead by 19 at the half (39-20) and by as much as 25 at times. The home team continued to fight and kept it all square in the third quarter and won the fourth to close the final margin to 16 points in a 65-49 win that will place Turkey into a semi-final against the United States.
Gurbulak led Turkey with 17 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds. Ferit Gumus scored 16 with 10 rebounds.
Marcos Candido Sanchez led Brazil with 18 points with Leandro de Miranda adding 16 and 9 rebounds.
Turkey’s Ismail Ar said, “We are used to being in a quarter final and we felt like we were prepared already because we have already won the bronze at the World Championships in 2014 but we were ready for the Brazilian match. We watched a lot of matches to see how to play against them, however we were unhappy as we felt the referees were a little unfair as it was against Brazil.
“We know that it is going to be a great fight with the US in the semi-finals, but we are looking forward to the next match. We are hoping that one of our key players is going to be fit and not lose him from that game.”
Brazil’s Head Coach Taigo Frank said, “It was a tough start the team had a slow beginning, after the team started playing better defence it got better but the damage was already done.
“We aren’t such a mature team, it has older players but we have only been together as a team since April so we have not had time to mature together. We had good preparation for the Games with some friendly games but today didn’t work out and I congratulate Turkey on the result.
“It was the primary objective for us to get to a quarter finals and what came after was a bonus.
“We will now cool down, get a good night sleep and prepare for the next match on Friday.”
For full match statistics click here https://www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/wheelchair-basketball-mens-quarterfinal-wb-6
