Gazmend Sinani ( tr, Aydın Okçu; 22 June 1991 – 23 June 2018) was a Kosovan professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who last played as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

Leeds Force Leeds Force were an English professional basketball team based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The Force played in the British Basketball League, the top flight of British basketball. They played their home games at the Carnegie Sports Arena, located ...

and the Kosovo national team.

Early life

Sinani was born in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

Kosovo Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...

parents from

Podujevo Podujevo ( sr-Cyrl, Подујево), Podujeva, or Besiana ( sq-definite, Podujevë or ''Besianë''), is a city and municipality in Kosovo's Pristina District. According to the 2011 census, the city of Podujeva has 23,453 inhabitants, while t ...

and he carried Kosovan and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

passports.

Professional career

Return to Sigal Prishtina

Last season with

Kosovo Basketball Superleague The Kosovo Basketball Superleague (Albanian: Superliga e Kosovës në Basketboll) and known as the ArtMotion Superliga due to sponsorship reasons is the top men's professional basketball league in Kosovo. Basketball Superleague was founded in 1991 ...

club

Sigal Prishtina Klubi i Basketbollit Prishtina (English: ''Basketball Club Prishtina''), officially known as Sigal Prishtina due to sponsorship reasons, is a Kosovar professional basketball club based in Pristina. The team currently competes in the IP Superl ...

, where he won three trophies as winner of

, winner of

Kosovo Cup The Kosovar Cup ( sq, Digitalb Kupa e Kosovës) for sponsorship reasons, is the major football national cup tournament in Kosovo. It was established in 1991, and is organized by the Football Federation of Kosovo. Llapi are the current holders, ...

and the winner of

Balkan League The League of the Balkans was a quadruple alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Eastern Orthodox kingdoms of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which at the ...

. In the local league he averaged 6.0 points and 5.6 rebounds while in BIBL he had 1.3 points and 2.3 rebounds.

Bashkimi Prizren

On 11 September 2016, Sinani joined

side

Bashkimi Prizren Klubi i Basketbollit Bashkimi, also known as K.B Bashkimi or simply Bashkimi , is a professional basketball team based in Prizren, Kosovo. Bashkimi is the oldest basketball team in Kosovo and competes in the top professional men's basketball leag ...

Muğla Ormanspor

On 3 November 2016, Sinani joined

Turkish Basketball First League The Turkish Basketball First League, also called TBL, is the second-tier level league of professional club basketball in Turkey. The league was previously known as Turkish Basketball Second League (TB2L). Format and promotion and relegation The ...

side Muğla Ormanspor.

Rahoveci

On 29 November 2017, Sinani joined

side

Rahoveci Rahovec ( sq-definite, Rahoveci) or Orahovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Ораховац) is a town and municipality located in the District of Prizren in western Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Rahovec has 15,892 inhabitants, while the ...

Leeds Force

On 26 January 2018, Sinani moved for the first time outside the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

and joined

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

side

and signed a contract to end of 2017–18 season.

International career

Sinani was one of the first players of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. On 31 August 2016, he made his official debut with Kosovo in a

EuroBasket 2017 qualification This article describes the qualification procedure for EuroBasket 2017. Qualification format All teams which didn't qualify yet for EuroBasket 2017 were divided into six groups of four teams and one more of three. The winners of each group and the ...

match against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Death

On 23 June 2018, one day after his 27th birthday, Sinani suffered serious injuries in a car accident in the early hours in

Gjakova Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants. Geographicall ...

, which also injured three other players of Kosovo national team: Altin Morina,

Fisnik Rugova Fisnik Rugova (born 26 August 1989) is a Kosovan professional basketball player for Bashkimi Prizren of the Kosovo Basketball Superleague. Rugova also plays in the Kosovo national team. Professional career In June 2016, Rugova signed a contract ...

and Granit Rugova, along with physiotherapist Kujtim Shala. Sinani died as a result of his injuries, but all others in the accident survived.

References

External links

Gazmend Sinani
at EuroBasket.com
Gazmend Sinani
at

Basketligan Svenska Basketligan, or the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), is the premier league for professional basketball in Sweden. The league was originally established in 1992 as Basketligan and was known as that prior to the season of 2006–07, but whe ...

1991 births 2018 deaths Kosovo Albanians Sportspeople from Pristina Centers (basketball) Fenerbahçe men's basketball players KB Prishtina players Bashkimi Prizren players KB Rahoveci players Kosovan men's basketball players Road incident deaths in Kosovo {{Kosovo-basketball-bio-stub