Türkiye Under-21 National Team, which achieved historical success and became the champion in the European Junior Taekwondo Championship hosted by Bosnia and Herzegovina, returned home.
The national team delegation was welcomed at Istanbul Airport by Turkish Taekwondo Federation Board Members Bekir Karaman and Aydın Süha, Taekwondo Federation Istanbul Provincial Representative Ahmet Çorum, as well as the coaches and families of the national athletes.
Turkish Taekwondo Federation President Bahri Tanrıkulu stated that they achieved a very good result and said, “We are very happy and proud. About a month ago, I won the federation elections and became the new president. This is a separate happiness and pride for me. We gathered the team in this short time. Immediately We organized our camp. We became Junior European champions about 10 days ago. Just a week later, the Cadets European Championship was very important for us because we hope the champion athletes of 2028 will become Olympic champions. We attach great importance to this. he said.
Underlining that they participated in the championship with a very large squad, Tanrıkulu said, “We have achieved a historical success that is truly difficult to break. Participating with 55 athletes and receiving 16 medals is a great success. I would like to thank their coaches and clubs who trained our athletes. Of course, we have done everything in this short time.” Many thanks to our Ministry of Sports for providing this opportunity, our esteemed Minister Osman Aşkın Bak, our Deputy Minister esteemed Hamza Yerlikaya, and our General Manager esteemed Veli Ozan Çakır. “Thank you very much,” he said.
Ali Sarı, one of the national team coaches, emphasized that they are very happy to make Turkey feel this pride and said:
“We won 9 golds here, it was very important for us. It was a record. Of course, we have very big goals ahead of us. We are preparing for them. Hopefully, we will ensure that this flag remains high again.”
Furkan Ubeyde Çamoğlu, who won the gold medal in the organization, stated that he won his second European championship this year and said, “Thank God, we are proud, happy, successful.” he said.
Yiğithan Kılıç, one of the champion athletes, said, “First of all, we are very happy. We represented our country in the best way. We managed to become champions in the general classification, boys and girls. We thank everyone who prayed.” He commented:
Sıla Irmak Uzunçavdar, who won the gold medal in women’s category, said, “We are very happy, because I won the gold medal myself and we achieved a great success as a team. Hopefully, we will achieve greater success and better times.” made his assessment.
National athlete Elif Sude Akgül stated that she was very happy about the championship and said, “I am becoming the European champion for the second time. I would like to thank everyone who supported my teachers and my family.” he said.
National taekwondo athlete Şevval Çakal, who won the gold medal, also stated that they achieved a very important success for Türkiye and that he was very happy to contribute to this.
Berkay Erer also stated that they are proud of the success achieved as a team.
Reminding that he was the European champion in 58 kilos, Enes Kaplan said, “I became the European champion in 2022. Our goal is the 2028 Olympics.” he said.
Zehra Begüm Kavukcuoğlu also said, “I am very happy to be the champion. We also broke the record as a team. I hope to become the champion in the 2028 Olympics. I would like to thank the Beşiktaş family from here.” he said.
The national delegation left the airport after the group photo taken.
The crescent-star team completed the 4-day championship held in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a total of 16 medals, including 9 gold, 1 silver and 6 bronze. The crescent-star team managed to become champions in the national rankings and in the men’s and women’s team rankings.
Source: www.star.com.tr
