Özgür Gürbulak

Özgür Gürbulak — Biography

Özgür Gürbulak is one of Turkey's best-known wheelchair basketball players. A 4-point player, he has long played for Galatasaray's wheelchair basketball team and for the national team. Born in İzmir, he is sometimes called the pride of İzmir in club media.

The turning point of his career was moving from Saran Anadolu to Galatasaray at the start of the 2008 season, a club that went on to become European champion; with it he lifted the European Champions Cup four times. With the national team he won silver at the 2009 European Championship in Adana, finishing as the tournament's top scorer and an All-Star Team member. At the 2010 World Championship Turkey finished eighth and he ranked second in scoring at 23.13 points per game. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics the team placed seventh. In 2013 he took silver again at the European Championship in Frankfurt and was named to the All-Star Team; with the 2015 European silver he is a three-time runner-up.

He also made the tournament's best five at the 2015 and 2017 European Championships. In 2019 he told reporters the team was heading out both to keep its standing and to qualify for the Paralympic Games, and in 2014 he had spoken of wanting to celebrate a title with the fans.