Eurobasket champ: Istanbul bridge lit with colors of Slovenia flag
AFTER beating former Yugoslav sister republic Serbia, Slovenians celebrated the small country’s long-awaited, first-ever European basketball title well into yesterday morning. Host country Turkey made a sweet gesture to the new European champion by lighting up the July 15 Martyrs Bridge, formerly known as Bosporus Bridge, in the colors of the Slovenian flag, with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım’s permission.
The Slovenian fans’ chant, “Who doesn’t jump, he ain’t Slovenian,” accompanied with collective jumping, echoed through the streets of Ljubljana and other cities, the daily Dnevnik said. “Slovenian basketball fever peaked during the night of the Euro Basket final. Two million basketball fans celebrated the gold after nail-biting in front of their TVs,” it added.
But the fever is set to continue through the day, when the championship team returns for a welcome in central Ljubljana. For the event, the state railway has introduced a special: anybody dressed as a fan has a free train ride. The team led by NBA star Goran Dragic, defeated Serbia 93-85 in a tense match, ending the tournament without a loss.
“Not just undefeated, but undefeatable!” screamed a headline in the Ljubljana daily Vecer.
The daily noted that Slovenia, with 2.1 million inhabitants, claimed the title of a European basketball champion with the smallest population from previous holders Lithuania.
In spite of its size, Slovenia was a major contributor to the Yugoslav powerhouse which dominated the non-NBA basketball world over much of the last three decades of the 20th century.
Since Yugoslavia fell apart in 1991, Slovenia has fielded several strong teams to major tournaments, but had, despite expectations, never won a medal.
Now, the country’s basketball guru Zmago Sagadin proclaimed for the daily Delo, “This is a state holiday.”
In the losing camp, in Serbia, expectations were low ahead of the Euro Basket due to the absence of several key players, but the disappointment was also great.
“You’re our pride, Slovenia deserved gold,” says the headline in the leading daily, Blic.