Demirhan, Tosun, and Yesilirmak Punch Tickets to World and European Championships

Wednesday, January 9, 2019 - 17:05 By Eric Olanowski

YALOVA, Turkey (January 9) - The Turkish Women’s Wrestling National Championships came to an end in Yalova, Turkey, and U23 world champions Evin DEMIRHAN and Buse TOSUN, and 2018 world runner-up Elif YESILIRMAK were among the winners.

Of the ten tournament champions, nine wrestlers punched their tickets to the 2019 World and European Championships. Yasin ADAR, the 2017 world champion and 2018 world runner-up did not compete at this weekend's National Championships but will be Turkey's 76kg representative at the World and European Championships.

In his opening ceremony speech, Turkish Wrestling Federation President Musa Aydin talked about the importance of September's Astana World Championships, saying, "Our first goal is the 2019 World Championships because there's now an Olympic quota. Athletes entering the top 6 in 2019 will receive a visa. We want to ensure that our athletes receive their visas one year in advance. Our goal is to join the Olympics by creating the best wrestling team in the world in 2020."

The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan will be the most important Olympic Games in Turkish women's wrestling history. Turkey has won 63 Olympic medals, 29 of those being gold, at the Olympic Games, but they've all come from freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers.

Six Turkish women have qualified for the Olympic Games, but have all fell short of winning a medal. Their highest finishes came at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games when Buse Tosun, who won the 68kg gold medal this weekend, and Hafize SAHIN finished in seventh-place.

Elif Yesilirmak, who won the 62kg gold medal this weekend, was the first and lone Turkish women to wrestle at the 2008 London Olympics. She also competed in the 2016 Olympic Games, and has the opportunity to become the first Turkish woman to qualify for three Olympic Games.

You can watch the Turkish women's wrestling team compete at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Ivan Yaryin, which begins on January 24 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Click HERE to read the full story from the Turkish Wrestling Federation.

RESULTS

50kg
GOLD - Evin DEMIRHAN
SILVER - Aynur ERGE
BRONZE - Funda TUKENMEZ
BRONZE - Zehra DEMIRHAN

53kg
GOLD - Zeynep YETGIL
SILVER - Emine ÇATALOGLU
BRONZE - Elif Büşra KOCA
BRONZE - Fikriye GOK

55kg
GOLD - Bedia DAY
SILVER - Elif YILMAZ
BRONZE - Aysun ERGE
BRONZE Esra PUL

57kg
GOLD - Mehlika OZTURK
SILVER - Ozge FINDIKCI
BRONZE - Nurife DUMAN
BRONZE - Nuray KARADUMAN

59kg
GOLD - Elif YANIK
SILVER - Derya BEYHAN
BRONZE - Dilan KAYA
BRONZE - Gizem KABAK

65kg
GOLD - Asli TUGCU
SILVER - Cansu AKSOY
BRONZE - Merve KARADENIZ
BRONZE - Asli DEMIR

62kg
GOLD - Elif YESILIRMAK
SILVER - İlknur BATIR
BRONZE - Damla ARSLAN
BRONZE - Cemile UNUDAN