Turkish wrestlers enjoy their best finish since 1949

Turkey won in five gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals at the recent 2017 European Wrestling Championships in Serbia, marking the country's best finish in the sport since 1949. Turkey enjoyed a rousing championships in Serbia, marking their best result since the 1949 European Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, where the national team won six golds, one silver and one bronze medal. Turkish Wrestling Association President Musa Aydın told Anadolu Agency that Turkey enjoyed "huge success" at the competition, which ended Sunday.

"We scored another historic victory. I would like to express my gratitude to our technical team, the management, those who contributed to this success and in particular to our athletes."I would also like to thank [Turkish] Sports and Youth Minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç for his support," Aydın said, adding he hoped this momentum would continue at the upcoming 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, a multinational and multi-sporting event that will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan between May 12 and May 22."We will get gold medals there too, and have our national anthem played," he said.

At the championships in Novi Sad, Turkish athletes Taha Akgül, Soner Demirtaş, Rıza Yıldırım, Rıza Kayaalp and Yasemin Adar came first in their categories, and won gold medals.

Metehan Başar won the silver medal, while Süleyman Atlı, Selim Yaşar and Aslan Atem were the bronze medalists. Turkey ranked third as a team in the freestyle category, fourth in the Greco-Roman category and eighth in the women's wrestling.