Turkish swimmer wins silver at para world contest  

LONDON

Turkish athlete Sümeyye Boyacı missed gold by 300th of a second at the World Para Swimming Championships in London on Sept. 14.

Boyacı, 16, finished the 50-meter backstroke in 44.74 seconds, bagging the silver medal behind 43-year-old Teresa Perales of Spain, a five-time Paralympian.

Sevilay Öztürk, another Turkish paralympic swimmer, finished eighth in the same competition, finishing in 50.54 seconds, while Beytullah Eroğlu came sixth in the men’s 50-meter backstroke.

“I am the first female world silver medal winner woman swimmer in the history of Turkey; this is a great honor for me,” Boyacı said after the race.

“It is another great honor to be the runner-up at a world championship at the age of 16. Hopefully, I will achieve much more success,” she added.

Boyacı said she will make the best use of the experience.

“I am very lucky to have had this experience, because I lost by just 0.03 seconds, and she who beat me has been the champion for years, and she is one of my idols,” she said. “I would have been sadder if someone else had won.”