TGF President Şeref Eroğlu held a meeting in Ankara regarding the 2022 World Wrestling Championship held in Belgrade. National wrestler and TGF board member Yasemin Adar, who won a gold medal in the World Championship, as well as managers and members of the press attended the meeting.
“WE WERE 3 CHAMPIONS BY DOMINING HEAVY WEIGHTS IN ALL STYLES”
Stating that the 2022 World Wrestling Championship will be remembered as a championship in which great successes have been achieved in terms of Turkish wrestling, Eroğlu said, “Turkey has achieved a first in the history of world wrestling, dominating heavyweights in all styles, and has written a new history by winning 3 champions. We have started a new milestone in world wrestling by declaring to the whole world that Turkey is the “homeland” of both ancient and modern wrestling. Our Greco-Roman National Team became the world champion again after 13 years. Our athletes Taha Akgül 7, Rıza Kayaalp 3, Yasemin Adar 5 years later, gold “We also brought out a new champion. Burhan Akbudak also won a gold medal for the first time. Our athletes honored and made our country proud with 4 gold medals at a World Championship 65 years later,” he said.
“FAULTS ARE CLOSED WITH ATHLETES’ SUCCESS”
Noting that Turkish wrestling had to go through a painful process of change despite the historical victories achieved, Eroğlu stated that not only the World Championships or the Olympics, but also the future generations should be planned, “We haven’t spent the last 10-15 years productively with short-term goals, populist approaches. We could not strengthen the infrastructures and unfortunately we could not realize a sustainable structural transformation. Years and generations that were lost in nepotism, gossip and conflicts of interest will be left behind, away from equality of opportunity and competition, where clubbing has spread from the lower age groups to the top national teams, instead of scientific methods and modern training techniques. “In Turkish wrestling, the era of interregnum, in which the federation presidents and administrations covered their own mistakes and mistakes with the success of a few athletes and put this burden on them, has come to an end in Turkish wrestling,” he said.