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Quote:Kone: We're not going to Turkey just to participate



If Ivory Coast are going to survive a tough Group C and advance to the knockout stages of the FIBA World Championship in Turkey, they’ll need some big performances from Mohamed Kone.



The 2.11m center was sensational at the Afrobasket last summer, helping his country snatch an unexpected silver medal.



They finished the tournament with five wins and four defeats, but every one of the victories were crucial.



In the 68-61 upset of Cameroon in the Semi-Finals, the win that sealed a spot at the FIBA World Championship, the 29-year-old Kone had 11 points, 10 rebounds and one block.



“My wish was to represent the Ivory Coast the best that I could, even though it wasn’t easy sometimes,” Kone said.



“I was playing 100% just like my teammates.



“That was my first participation in a competition of this caliber, therefore I had to make good impression.”



Kone, who played college basketball in America at Southern Idaho and Valparaiso – the same university of Angola captain Joaquim Gomes – and also competed professionally in France, should feel right at home in Turkey this summer.



He spent this season with Erdemirspor in the country’s top flight and averaged almost eight points and more than six rebounds per game.



Ivory Coast will compete against Greece, Russia, Puerto Rico, China and hosts Turkey in the Preliminary Round.



Kone will have a special feeling when he puts on the national team shirt.



Looking back at last summer, when he played at the FIBA Africa Championship for the first time in Libya, he said: “During the first game of the 2009 Afrobasket in Libya, I realized that I wasn’t playing for just a team but for my country.



“I was a little bit shaky at the beginning but everything was cool afterwards.”



Kone, who says his favorite player is former Team USA star Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, is very excited about taking part in the FIBA World Championship.



His aim?



“Show to the world that we’re not going there just to participate,” he said.



“I am a competitor. When I play, I do it with my heart like any other athlete.



“I am not saying that I am going there to win the title, but I am going to represent my country well and I’ll do that with God’s will.”