ISTANBUL - Being a basketball coach may not strike to many as a wise thing to do in a war-torn country where bomb attacks, kidnappings and killings are a daily routine, a Turkish head coach of the Iraqi national basketball team, is trying to help a nation regain its unity and dignity.
"It`s a war zone out there and it is pretty tough to put people on the ground and have them play basketball," Fikret Canselen said.
Canselen signed the Iraqi national team six months ago and he said he has been quite successful in teaching the Iraqi players "European basketball" as the team claimed the fourth place at the Arab Olympic Games.
"You can`t do much in a country when you know that your players could get killed in any part of that country," Canselen said.
The team usually go to Irbil for training camps and never head to capital Baghdad.
"We are not living in a fear of death as long as we stay away from the bombs," said Canselen, who was recently named as a member of the Iraqi Olympic Committee.
(YMB-MS)