The Turkish Traditional Wrestling Federation has made a momentous decision to strip the 2022 Historical Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling Chief Wrestler Cengizhan Şimşek of all his belts and awards due to his failure to comply with the necessary regulations concerning the fight against doping.
Consequently, the title of Kırkpınar Chief Pehlivan in 2022, which had been in Cengizhan Şimşek's possession, was passed on to the other finalist, Mustafa Taş, the runner-up of the esteemed historical Kırkpınar chief wrestler, Ismail Balaban, with Ertuğrul Dağdeviren, Tanju Gemici and Orhan Okulu following in the third, fourth and quarterfinal places, respectively.
Due to Cengizhan Şimşek's dereliction of duty in failing to issue mandatory address notifications within the scope of the fight against doping in the quarters of 2019 and 2020, all accolades he had earned from the competition on Oct. 1, 2020, were to be revoked.
Şimşek's legal team's effort to appeal for a reversal was ultimately fruitless when their petition was denied by the Arbitration Board.
It is noteworthy that Şimşek, in defiance of his lack of legal permission, took part in several contests from March 9, 2022, to July 31, 2022, garnering significant accolades, as attested to by the Arbitration Board.
The Federation issued a resolute declaration, affirming that they are uncompromising in their efforts to confront doping and wholeheartedly embrace the idea of clean sports and equitable competition and they pledge to remain devoted to these ideals moving forward.
A comprehensive training and information program to combat doping will be launched for athletes, their trainers, clubs and all other stakeholders.
In line with these efforts, the Federation also said unwavering commitment and dedication to restoring traditional wrestling to its rightful place of reverence will be shown.
