Turkey continued its development on the world sports stage yesterday, as Istanbul 2020 ambassador Neslihan Darnel led the women’s national volleyball team to qualification for the Olympic Games for the first time ever.
The team, ranked World number 11 and nicknamed the ‘Sultans of the net’, were supported by over 8,000 passionate fans in Ankara. They watched Darnel’s side recover from going behind in both the first and second sets, before urging them over the line in the third, ensuring Turkey’s spot amongst the twelve teams who will be competing in London this summer. The win means Turkey will be involved in a team event at the Games for just the second time and is evidence of the growing presence of Turkish sport in international competition.
Hasan Arat, a leading member of the Istanbul 2020 bid team and Vice President of Turkey’s National Olympic Committee, commented that the victory was yet more evidence that Turkey’s investment strategies for supporting sport participation are paying dividends at the highest level:
‘Everyone at the NOC of Turkey offers their congratulations to the volleyball team for yesterday’s outstanding performance. We now have 72 athletes confirmed in the Turkey Olympic squad for London 2012 – a new record for the country. Turkey is pursuing a number of unique strategies to encourage sports participation, and we are now beginning to see the true potential of Turkish athletes. We hope that our plans for the Games in 2020, underpinned by our growing economy, will enable the acceleration of other strategies for sports participation, like the National Sports Plan. Our goal is to encourage our population to continue getting involved in sport, and hopefully inspire more days like yesterday for Turkish sports teams.’
Darnel, who was in Moscow for the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly last month to help promote the Istanbul 2020 bid, said yesterday’s crowd is just a taster of what the atmosphere at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games would be like:
‘The crowd was incredible and so important in helping the team to victory; we are so lucky to have a nation whose young people are so passionate about sport. If Turkey was to receive the honour of hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Istanbul it would unite the world’s most spectacular show with one of the world’s most passionate sports audiences.’
For more information, please contact the Istanbul 2020 media team: media@instanbul2020.com.tr
Alternatively, find us online at www.istanbul2020.com.tr
on Twitter: @2020_istanbul or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Istanbul2020
As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.
These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.
20 Years at #1:
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
