Olympic champ Mete Gazoz nabs bronze medal in world cup

TLAXCALA

Olympic gold medalist recurve archer Mete Gazoz has won the bronze medal in the 2022 World Cup Final held in Mexico’s Tlaxcala.

In the finals, the last of this year’s open-air archery activities, eight athletes who were qualified for direct participation or thanks to points they earned during the year competed.

South Korea’s Kim Woo-jin won the finals, while Spain’s Miguel Alvarino Garcia took second place.

Gazoz, who reached the semi-finals by beating his Italian rival Mauro Nespoli, was eliminated by Garcia.

The Turkish archer claimed the bronze medal by beating South Korean Kim Je Deok 6-4 in the third place match.

Meanwhile, Gazoz has been named as “the athlete of 2021” as a result of the voting made by the World Archery Federation’s board members.

The award was presented to Gazoz by Uğur Erdener, the chair of the federation.

Turkish archery team’s coach Yusuf Göktuğ Ergin was also named as “the coach of 2021.”

Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu congratulated Gazoz and Ergin with a post he shared on his Twitter account.

“I wish the continuation of the success of our Olympic champion athlete Mete Gazoz and the national archery team’s coach Göktuğ Ergin, who are sources of pride for our country,” he said.

Beginning archery in 2010, the right-handed archer made his international debut in 2013 by winning the silver medal in the Recurve Junior Men Team event at the World Youth Championship in China.

The 22-year-old athlete bagged the gold medal in the men’s individual event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

He has had seven gold medals in total in Olympic Games, World Cup, Mediterranean Games and European Youth Championships throughout his career.