Turkish wrestlers set sights on multiple medals at U20 World Championship

The U20 Greco-Roman Wrestling National Team will compete for medals at the World Championship to be held in Slovakia from August 16-23. Technical Director Zafer Başar said that following their European success, they expect 2-3 gold medals and 5-6 medals in total at the world championship.

Scraper SystemJuly 31, 2026, 08:17 PM

Turkish wrestlers set sights on multiple medals at U20 World Championship

The U20 Greco-Roman Wrestling National Team is preparing to take to the mat at the World Championship, set to take place in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, from August 16-23. The 36 athletes under Technical Director Zafer Başar are training with the goal of a rich medal haul.

Başar told an Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter that the national team roster was determined through a champions tournament among athletes who placed in the top three or top five at the Turkish Championship.

Reminding that they achieved significant success at the European Championship held in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, from July 6-12, Başar said, "Salih Yusuf Yazıcı became European champion at 72 kilograms. İsmail Bereket and Üzeyir Ayberk Bostan took third place in Europe. We also had two fifth-place finishes."

Noting that after the camp in Sakarya, they will hold another camp and then head to Slovakia on August 14, Başar said, "We have prepared well. God willing, we expect to win more medals than we did in Europe."

Stressing that they can win 2 or 3 gold medals and a total of 5-6 medals at the world championship, Başar added, "We won medals at the European Championship, but we entered those matches with a target of 6 medals. They were knife-edge matches. Hopefully, at the world championship, luck will be on our side a little more, our kids will believe a bit more, and we will return to our country in the best way with plenty of medals."

Thanking Turkish Wrestling Federation President Taha Akgül, Başar said, "Taha Akgül is an Olympic champion, a sportsman who has been world and European champion many times. Because he is one of us, he knows our shortcomings very well."

Team captain Alkan Akar, for his part, stated that he started wrestling in 2018 and won a world third-place in 2023 and a Turkish championship this year. Saying that an unfortunate incident at the European Championship caused him to finish fifth, Akar said, "God willing, I will make up for it at the world championship. Our training is going well, we have a very good technical team. They are doing their best for us to have a more successful world championship than the European Championship. And hopefully we will do our best as well."

17-year-old national wrestler Furkan Öden said he started wrestling at age 5 guided by his grandfather and became Turkish champion this year at 60 kilograms in the U20 category. Noting that he will compete in the under-20 world championship, Öden said, "I am preparing well for this tournament. God willing, I want to return with a podium finish or the championship. Everyone's goal here is to achieve a result and become champion. Everyone is working very hard, we are working as a team. Inshallah, as a team we will achieve a result at the world championship."

Turkish wrestlers set sights on multiple medals at U20 World Championship