By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
One of the craziest stories ever in Euroleague happened on Thursday. As it was reported from Slovenian press, Fenerbahce/Ulker’s forward Romain Sato was detained by Slovenian authorities in Ljubljana international airport because his passport was a “total fake”.
The people of the Turkish team claimed at first that the problem was just a bureaucratic misunderstanding, contacted the Turkish embassy in Ljubljana and were hoping that Sato will be available for the team practice at Thursday night. However, things didn’t play out that way.
As it was announced officially by Fenerbahce/ Ulker, Sato sended the night in detention at the airport. The press release entintled “Skandal” accuses Slovenian authorities of breaking the international law: “Our player Romain Sato’s passport was blocked by Slovenian police. Legal and formal investigations were started by our club. Romain Sato, who owns a Schengen visa, has entered many European countries and USA. Our player Romain Sato was submitted with an illegal process. It’s clear that this process was done in order to prevent him from playing at Friday’s game. Sato will stay this night in police detention and will not be able to play tomorrow. We have to note that, this is not a problem between clubs. That’s totally an international SCANDAL. Details will be shared soon”.