Thomas Kelati
Basketball guard Thomas Kelati has applied for Polish citizenship in late January, according to Polish media reports. The Eritrean-American professional is currently playing for Valencia in the Spanish ACB league and has strong ties to Poland.
Kelati used to play for Polish Basketball club Turow Zgorzelec and is married to a polish woman, with whom he has two children.
Polish officials have already received all necessary documents and say that the naturalization case might be finalized in June.
Under Polish legislation the application procedure could have been shorter for Kelati if he had been married for at least three years to his wife. The couple married two years ago.
As a Polish citizen Kelati could play for the Polish national team. However, according to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) only one naturalized player is allowed to play in a national team.
Kelati struggled to find a new team throughout 2009 as things were not as smooth as expected for the guard. He initially had made a deal with Olympiakos, but his contract was terminated after a medical team discovered health problems.
He returned to America to sign a non-guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. One month later Lakers waved the guard announcing that he did not make it through to the final roster.
Following his four year academic career at Washington State University, Kelati went to Europe and helped Belgian team Dexia Mons-Hainaut winning the Belgian Championship in 2006. In the same year he transferred to Polish league team Turow Zgorzelec and continued to play for Spanish team Malaga in 2008.
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