President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan congratulated the National Men's Volleyball Team, which defeated Russia 3-1 in the first game of the 2021 European Championship Group C.
After the game, President Erdoğan spoke by phone with Ahmet Göksu, Vice President of the Turkish Volleyball Federation, and Nedim Özbey, Head Coach of the National Men's Volleyball Team.
Congratulating Göksu on the victory against Russia, President Erdoğan asked for his greetings to be conveyed personally to the players.
In response, Vice-President Göksu said, "As long as you are our leader, inshallah, we will have many victories."
Later during President Erdoğan's talk with Head Coach Nedim Özbey, emotional moments were experienced. Özbey, who was brought to Türkiye from Spain by an air ambulance upon President Erdoğan's instruction due to his health condition last year, expressed that he couldn't hold back his tears during the phone call.
Özbey continued his remarks as follows, "This is something that can happen once in a hundred years. In our history, we won against Russia only two times. The fact that I was the coach in both games is priceless. And winning against an Olympics finalist Russia here today… I'm sorry, I can't hold back my tears right now. We have dedicated our lives to volleyball, and we will be rewarded for our efforts. All the titles we have won since 1994 have been won during your tenures."
President Erdoğan wished Özbey and the National Team success in the remaining games of the tournament.