Lointek Gernika comes close to a miracle in a trap in Turkey

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Seems strange to start off as a miracle to almost win a tie in which you won by 24 in the first leg, doesn’t it? True, but in this case it is the term that best corresponds to what happened in Mersin (Turkey) by Lointek Gernika Bizkaia, who was eliminated from the Eurocup.

The Basque team, which was coming out of a collective quarantine due to an epidemic of Covid-19, lost 69-40 against one of the favorites of the competition, Çukurova (he came to play with 5 WNBA in same time on the court, most of them nationalized), after an afternoon of setbacks and obstacles that continued until the end of the match. A clash in which Gernika was close to giving the bell thanks to a final quarter where they leveled the tie, but an unsportsmanlike signal to Roselis Silva and a hat-trick from Jasmine Thomas tipped the balance in favor of the local team.

Everything that happened in Turkey

Çukurova, who usually plays at the 7,500-capacity Servet Tazegul Spor Salonu, decided to move the game to the Edip Buran Spor Salonu, a pavilion with less than 2,000 spectators and the stands much closer to the track. . The Turkish side filled the pavilion for the second leg against Mario López’s side, who were subjected to a constant buzz of horns with every attack in the games. However, things did not end there. With Gernika in the field of attack, in the middle of one of his systems, there were many occasions when an anti-aircraft alarm or music at a thundering volume sounded without hesitation, before the astonished gaze of the members of the Spanish team.

A more than questionable environment to which Gernika had to add more obstacles: a rather unequal refereeing criterion (Gernika started the game with a 4-10 against in personal fouls and finished with four players in 4 or 5 fouls; alone Anigwe reached the 4 in the premises) which despaired each of the players and the last minute withdrawal of Belén Arrojo, who had tested negative in all tests, including a PCR in Istanbul, until she was positive in a pre-match test which left Gernika with just 8 players available.

The positive case of Belén Arrojo

As club sources confirmed to Gigantes, Belén Arrojo was one of the players who tested positive for Covid-19 during the recent outbreak Lointek Gernika suffered in his squad. After the quarantine and following all the protocol, the player tested negative in the PCR and antigen tests carried out for the return to activity in Gernika. Before the trip to Turkey, they informed the club that in the Turkish city of Adana they would perform another PCR on all team members.

Considering this decision, Gernika decided to undergo another PCR upon his arrival in Istanbul, giving the results 100% negativity among the players and staff. However, the surprise came when in Adana’s PCR, carried out just three hours later, Belén Arrojo tested positive. Given this circumstance, the club decided to carry out another PCR in the hospital, the result of which (communicated by the club two hours after the end of the match) was again negative.

Tras sufrir problems con el regreso debido al positivo de Belén Arrojo y ser consideradas contactos estrechos, el team ya encuentra en Bilbao, salvo la jugadora granadina y su trainer, Mario López, que decidió esperar con ella a que salierado el resultado de una nueva test. As the club itself published, he will return tomorrow morning.

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