WOMWorld/Nokia has sent me, Chris_illman, out to Turkey to watch the FIBA World Basketball Championships – essentially the World Cup of basketball.
Yes, it’s a tough gig, but someone had to do it, so I was flown out kicking and screaming on Thursday.
Before I start sounding too smug, I should mention that it took me 21 hours to get door to door from WOMWorld/Nokia Towers to the hotel here in Kayseri – after an almost comically disastrous journey. I stress the word ‘almost’.
I won’t go in to details, but the lowest ebb came as I found myself consuming a very sub-standard shish kebab in a completely deserted (and quite shabby) Istanbul hotel ‘restaurant’. This was just to kill time as I waited for my re-arranged flight. Admittedly, it’s not the first time i’ve eaten a sub-standard kebab at 3am, but this felt considerably less jolly than usual…
Anyway, with that little adventure out the way, things are looking an awful lot rosier… and I’m here in Kayseri!
The tournament tips off later today (2:30pm UK time) with Australia taking on Jordan. I’ll be heading down there with a few of WOMWorld/Nokia’s basketball loving pals. They are:
Mark at A Stern Warning (Hat tip for the above pic!)
Pinar at çok iyi buldum (for any Turkish speakers out there!)
They will be writing loads of great content for the Ovi Bball app, which will keep you up date with everything you need to know about the tournament. Oh, and you can follow the Twitter chatter at #OviFIBA.
Plenty more updates coming on this… BRING ON THE B’BALL!