Jordan’s “wall” that left behind the tragedy of the earthquakes and threatens the National

If it weren’t for the … Jordanization of ex-NBAer Rodey Hollis-Jefferson, the Ahmet Duverioglou she would go unopposed for the title of her most decorated player of Jordan on this World Cup and at the same time the number one risk for Greece in the premiere on August 26. The son of a father from Jordan and a mother from Turkey, he chose to represent the first country’s coat of arms and wear its shirt with honor since 2014.

The 30-year-old center became more widely known by having a remarkable career mainly in Fenerbahce winning the Euroleague with her in 2017, before last year moving to Bursaspor with which he had a fairly good season until February. Then everything changed for him…

The earthquake that hit his family

It was February, when all the media was flooded with the images of the apocalypse with him 7.7 magnitude earthquake to have leveled entire cities in Turkey and Syria destroying lives and property. Among the over 50,000 dead from the engelado were also two very beloved persons of Ahmet Doverioglou: His 84-year-old grandmotherbut also his 30-year-old cousinNilai Aidogan, professional basketball player and even international in the past.

Nilai’s loss came from a tragic twist of fate: after a match of her Cankaya University team in the city of Hatay, she chose not to return with the rest of the team to Ankara. Instead, she went to pay a surprise visit to her beloved grandmother, Hasher, in the city Ailment. One of those most affected by the natural disaster.

A few hours before the earth quaked and turned entire cities into centipedes, Nilai had taken a picture with her grandmother on social media with the message “Hug the ones you love». The young athlete wanted to spend as much time as she could with her elderly grandmother, believing that time with her was not unlimited. But how could he know what would happen a few hours after their photo. Both were crushed by tons of cement and unfortunately died. The two women they were found in the wreckage dead and hugging each other. Until their last moments they were together and at least they had each other.

Duverioglou is devastated

This family tragedy greatly influenced Doverioglou, who was very close to his grandmother and his almost same-age cousin. After all, they had grown up together, shared their love for basketball and their careers developed roughly in parallel. On February 13, he made a very emotional post about the losses his family had.

“At 15:05 on 12th February we found Nilai and my family hugging. We will never be able to express our grief in words. Condolences to all. They were all loved dearly and their souls will forever be in our hearts. Nilai was very brave, she ran up to my grandmother and hugged her. We are very proud of her“, was his message.

Almost two weeks later, he himself announced that temporarily quits basketball. You see, he couldn’t deal with the pain and keep fighting without anything happening. In a video uploaded to social media by the Boursa team, Doverioglou announced his decision to his teammates. “Nice to meet you all. Because of the situation I’m in, I need time to find myself again. I had very bad days for reasons beyond my control. I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season. I love you all and hope to see you again in the future“, were the words of Doverioglou.

Tesekkurler ?? Ahmet Duverioglu

Profesyonel sporcumuz Ahmet Duverioglu ile kars?l?kl? anlasarak yollar?m?z? ay?rm?s venuruz.
Bugune kadarki katk?lar?ndan dolay? to himself tesekkur eder, kariyerinde basar?lar dileriz. pic.twitter.com/d7kndTKa2p

— Bursaspor Info Yat?r?m (@BsBasketbol) March 3, 2023

The World Cup gave him life and Obradovic changed his life

Time did not heal the wounds, but returning to the court was for Douvrioglu the best way to forget, but without ever forgetting. Jordan’s participation in the World Cup offered him a prime opportunity to to occupy his mind with something pleasant. Jordan’s natural leader returned to the court on time, ahead of his national team’s third appearance in the top competition. “At that time I could not devote myself to basketball. But now I feel better and the challenge is great. We want to show that we are competitive on this world stage, I believe we are now more ready than our two previous appearances (2010 and 2019, with just one win in ten matches)“, he said about his return to the courts.

He will have his guide, now and forever, the advice from Zeljko Obradovic, from their years at Fener. “It had the biggest impact on my career. He changed my habits and the way I thought about basketball while taking care of everything on and off the court in a fantastic way. That’s why I think he’s a genius. I want to have the same impact on my younger teammates as he had on me“, he emphasized about “Zots”.

The match against Greece in the premiere of the third group for the World Cup (26/8, 11:40) will mark for Ahmet Doverioglou a new beginning. And the 30-year-old centre, having a strong motivation to represent his country and the memory of his own who were lost in the earthquake, is one of the biggest threats to the Greek team.