She is only 19 but Ebrar Karakurt has already made a name for herself. Even though she did not feature among the players chosen by Giovanni Guidetti to compose Turkey’s starting six in the semi-final with Poland, the young opposite hitter chiefly helped the ‘Sultans of the Net’ secure their second appearance in a EuroVolley gold medal match.
Ebrar Karakurt (TUR)
After leading 2-0 and delivering a show of strength, Turkey lost the third set by a landslide 14-25 and the hosts seemed to struggle to find back their game despite the support coming from a 12,000-strong crowd at Ankara Sports Hall.
Karakurt replaced Meryem Boz in the fourth set; despite her young age and the lack of consistency, which has marked her performance in the tournament thus far, she literally rose to the occasion. Ebrar scored as many as nine points in the fourth set, thus playing a pivotal role in Turkey’s efforts to edge the White-and-Reds.
She showed real cold-bloodedness especially in some long, exciting rallies to record points that spearheaded Turkey’s victory. Even though she is still quite at the beginning of her career, you can be sure that there is more to come, possibly already in the gold medal match with Serbia.