Men often dominate headlines in Turkey's international wrestling success, but Yasemin Adar is among a few women set to change it. The 27-year-old wrestler remains the only Turkish woman to win world and European titles in freestyle wrestling and won her fourth European title earlier this month in the European championship in Romania when she defeated her Austrian rival Martina Kuent.

Adar links her foray into wrestling to her efforts to learn a move in order to qualify to study to be a physical education teacher."I have been interested in sports since I was in high school and was planning to be a physical education teacher. I am an easygoing person, so when I saw those teachers wearing tracksuits while others wearing suits, I decided to be the one wearing the tracksuit," Adar told Demirören News Agency (DHA). She first took up athletics and started training for the qualification exam to study for her future teaching career.

"You needed to learn a tough move called a pirouette, and my body was not flexible enough to make it right. Teachers told me I could only learn it from wrestlers as it was a common move for wrestlers. I went to a wrestling training center and met two trainers there who agreed to train me. After a few sessions, they told me I was talented for wrestling and suggested I take up wrestling instead of athletics. That is how it all started," Adar recounted. Trainers proved right and with just four months of training, she was runner-up in a local championship. Her accomplishments drew attention, and she was called for national team duty. Today, Adar is the most famous female wrestler in the country and a postgraduate student in physical education.

"I am happy and proud to bring a fourth title to Turkey. It is the result of 20 days of strict training with my teammates before the championship and more training before. We train about six hours every day and examine the weak sides of our rivals. It paid off in the end," Adar says. She is also proud of the national team that won the third spot in the European championship. "Other female wrestlers were good too. Evin Demirhan, Bedia Gün and Elif Jale Yeşilırmak won bronze. We are down to four medals from five last year, and we are sorry for this. We expected a lot from Buse Tosun [who competes in freestyle 69 kilograms] but she failed. We had high hopes that she would win gold," Adar says.

The wrestler has now set her sights on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. "This is a year to watch for me. I want to win as many points as I can to qualify for the Olympics. You have to be in the top six in [the upcoming] world championship to qualify for the Olympics," she noted. A busy schedule awaits her as she will attend tough training camps and compete in local tournaments. Next, she plans to marry. Adar says she'll have to balance her training and wedding plans with her boyfriend, who surprised her when he proposed as Adar was running with the Turkish flag on the mat after winning gold in the world championship in 2017. "Nothing can make a woman happier than winning a world title and getting a proposal," Adar says. "Besides, you will be remembered at least for being that girl who was proposed to in the world championship," she adds.