With Russia continuing to collect most of the medals on day nine, Turkey has also been winning medals in various branches in the 23rd Deaflympics, held in Samsun. In the 97kg finals, İlhan Çıtak (above) defeated his opponent Ukranian Viktor Antypenko with technical superiority and earned the gold medal. This gold medal is İlhan's second in Samsun and seventh overall. In athletics, Turkey's first medal came in hammer throw. Muhammet Çakır ranked second after Russian Maxim Bgan. Japanese Takamasa Ishida took the third place. In the badminton women's singles Group L, Turkish athlete Nalan Kaygın defeated her opponent, Li-Chi Hsieh from Chinese Taipei, 2-0; completing her group as the leader with two wins in two matches. In the men's singles Group R, Doğukan Yılmaz defeated his Brazilian opponent Matheus Rocha Da Costa 2-1, achieving a win in his second and last match of the group stage and advancing to the next round. In the men's basketball quarter-finals, the Turkish team finished the first half leading by seven points versus Ukraine, but was ultimately defeated 72-57 and lost their chances of a medal. In the women's basketball quarter-finals, Turkey lost 53-45 to Italy. Turkey will play fifth place matches now. In the men's football quarter-finals, Turkey defeated Iran 4-0 with a goal from İmamettin Sünmez (39') and a hat-trick from Eşref Metin Su (81', 87', 89') and reached the semi-finals. Turkey's opponent in the semi-finals is Italy, who defeated Great Britain on penalties. The other two semi-finalists are Egypt, who defeated Germany 2-1, and Ukraine, who eliminated Russia on penalties. In the women's kumite +68kg, Turkish athlete Gamze Keresteci won the gold medal. The Turkish Deaf Men's Volleyball Team defeated the U.S. 3-0 in the quarter-finals and made it to the semi-finals. They will face Iran, who defeated Italy 3-2.
