Turkish athletes bring in 10 medals at the Paralympic Games

An English wall

Turkish athletes have won three gold, five silver and two bronze medals during the first three days of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

On 1 September, archer Öznur Cüre Girdi competed in the women’s compound archery event, where she faced Iran’s Fatemeh Hemmati in the final. Girdi won the match 144-141, becoming the Paralympic champion.

Girdi secured Turkey’s first Paralympic gold in archery in 16 years. The last time Turkey won gold in archery at the Paralympic Games was in 2008, when Gizem Girişmen took the top spot in the women’s re-entry event, marking a historic achievement as a female athlete and Paralympic archer.

Para taekwondo athletes brought five medals to the country. Mahmut Bozteke won the country’s first gold medal at the Paralympic Games in taekwondo, winning against Mongolia’s Bolor-Erdene Ganbat.

Gamze Gürdal finished with silver in the women’s 57 kg competition. Her competitor Yuije Li won gold after winning the final match 11 to 0. Meryem Betül Çavdar won bronze in the women’s 52 kg competition, winning the match 6 to 3 against her Mexican competitor Jessica Garcia Quijano.

Fatih Çelik also won silver in the men’s 70 kg competition, after a match against Imamaddin Khalilov from Azerbaijan. Ali Can Özcan won silver in the men’s 58 kg competition.

In the table tennis para, the mixed doubles team of Turkey, Abdullah Öztürk and Nesim Turan, won bronze in the quarter-finals.

On August 31, Serkan Yıldırım won gold in the men’s 100-meter sprint,

Aysel Özgan won silver in women’s 10-meter air pistol with 231.1 points. Muhammet Khalvandi won silver in the men’s javelin throw event with his throw of 49.97 metres.