ISTANBUL (A.A) - 11.04.2002 - Basketball team Ulkerspor cancelled trip to Israel to play EuroLeague match with Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv on Thursday night.
Ulkerspor manager Lutfi Aribogan said that they had taken such a decision due to a political reason but they were obliged to cancel this trip as a large group of players refused to travel to Israel because of safety concerns.
Stressing that their decision was not against either ULEB which organized the EuroLeague or Israel or Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv club, Aribogan said, ''we were going to play this match under normal conditions. However, latest developments caused us to cancel this trip. The insurance companies in Turkey did not want to insure this trip due to extraordinary conditions. This caused players to feel safety concerns. As the Ulkerspor management, we held a meeting when we learned that half of the team had decided not to come on then trip and would not come to the airport, and we decided not to play a match with a weakened team.''
Basketball authorities had ruled that EuroLeague match should be played despite the developments in Israel.
Aribogan said his players thought that ULEB had taken a double-standard decision while soccer authority UEFA had moved a match between AC Milan of Italy and Hapoel Tel Aviv to Cyprus in March.