Duda Sanadze gives his view of incident with Korkmaz, claims it wasn't that bad / News - Basketnews.com

Georgian NT forward Duda Sanadze shared his view of the incident with Furkan Korkmaz, saying that the whole thing wasn't as bad as Turkey is trying to show.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Duda Sanadze was one of the protagonists in the incident during the game between Georgia and Turkey.

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Sanadze and Furkan Korkmaz faced each other face to face after exchanging some words and everything escalated to disqualifying fouls for both players.

Korkmaz said that Sanadze was provoking him, saying some bad words, which he couldn't let slide.

"You saw a little part of what happened on the court," Korkmaz began his statement. "We got into each other face to face, and he started talking shit to me. I'm not gonna let anyone talk shit to my face."

However, Sanadze had other views.

"I was surprised by what he [Korkmaz] said," Sanadze said. "You can even see in the video that I didn't say stuff he mentioned. Even before the play, I was really angry about the referee's call. I thought it was a clean block."

"I walked past him [Korkmaz], and I was like, 'It was a bullshit call'. Maybe he understood something different, but his reaction came as a surprise to me. I didn't say anything bad to him, but we got face to face, man to man. We have emotions, and the whole situation got escalated.

I'm not happy with what happened. Even though we won, I'm not feeling happy because these things shouldn't be happening. I really wanted to play 40 minutes and win that way. I respect the Turkish national team and all its staff. It was a lot of emotions and pressure on us on the court," Sanadze added.

Asked about the fight incident in the tunnel, Sanadze admitted that there were some contacts, but the whole situation didn't look as bad as Turkey's members are saying.

"It's written in many different versions, but I hope the truth will come out. People are waiting for an official statement. It wasn't like that. My teammates were simply following me to the locker room.

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There were a couple of words said from him and from us. Then we met each other, but the security was trying to be between us. Even if we tried to fight, we couldn't [have done] it because there were people between us.

It was a kind of a brawl. I don't think anyone punched or slapped each other. There were some swings going on, but I don't think anyone got injured. I saw some news that 5 or 20 people were fighting…

There's no way. Otherwise, some people would [have been] injured or have some scratch. As I said, I'm not happy with what happened. It's not supposed to happen, we are professionals. Today, I would have acted differently, and I hope he would do the same. One little moment escalated everything," Sanadze claimed.

Meanwhile, Korkmaz said that there was physical interaction involved.

"It was like a street fight. There was no talk or conversation. People just came at us and were trying to attack us. Of course, we reacted and tried to defend ourselves – exactly what we are going to do as men. I also think it's a security problem. But I don't know if it's a security problem or if they just showed tolerance to their players.

We understand that they're at home, but this is unacceptable. What happens on the court is fine, but we should talk more about what happens off the court," Korkmaz continued.

After being asked to confirm whether he was also involved in physical interaction, Korkmaz didn't change his stance.

"As I said, we were throwing punches at each other. It was like a street fight," Korkmaz repeated.

Sanadze also confirmed that he and Korkmaz made statements to FIBA on what happened.

"We made some statements. I think everything will be released soon. Both of us described the situation from our point of view," Sanadze said.

Georgian basketball federation released the statement, accusing Turkey of provocation. However, Sanadze didn't agree that Turkey was trying to provoke someone.

"It wasn't a provocation from Turkish or our team. They were losing, there were a lot of emotions going on. Maybe he misunderstood me because I didn't insult him. I was just complaining about the referee's call. I was really surprised by his reaction

We're neighbor countries, and it's not supposed to happen. We are sorry, and I hope they are sorry, too," Sanadze concluded.

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