Galatasaray Sports Club
Demir, who passed away four years ago, was the son of another major protagonist in the development of Turkish volleyball, Ayhan Demir, who was given the nickname “Captain the Innovator”. Born into this sports-oriented family, Paidar Demir played volleyball until he was 42 years old.
What distinguishes him, regarding both his passion for volleyball and Galatasaray, is expressed by his former colleagues: “What made him special was that, once he got to Galatasaray, he never left”.
The “Paidar Demir Men’s Volleyball Tournament” honoring Paidar Demir, aka Pako 8, was held in Ankara, at Başkent Volleyball Hall that hosted six domestic teams through September 26-30. The participating teams, Galatasaray, Çankaya Municipality Anka, Gümüşhane Torul Youth, Maliye Milli Piyango, Sivas September the 4th Municipality and Ziraat Bank are all competing in Turkey’s volleyball league.
The tournament gave the teams the opportunity to assess each other and themselves through friendly games as well as the chance to remember their elders. To the audience, the tournament was a statement of the fact that the Turkish volleyball league does not consist of only “big city” teams but it is a growing platform, where the game gets played at higher level day by day.
Galatasaray as the host of the tournament also held the honor of becoming the undefeated champion. Ulaş Kıyak, the team captain and the setter of Galatasaray men’s Volleyball team, added another MVP prize to his career with the Paidar Demir Men’s Volleyball Tournament.
Galatasaray will compete in the 2013 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup – Men; their first match will be at home at Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall against Slovakia’s Unicef BRATISLAVA.
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