Türkiye adds shooting silver to archery bronze at Paris Olympics

PARIS

The Turkish team of Yusuf Dikeç and Şevval İlayda Tarhan lost to Serbia in the 10m air pistol mixed team final on July 30 but won the country's first shooting medal in Olympic history.

The Dikeç-Tarhan duo lost to the Damir Mikec-Zorana Arunovic team in a hard-fought match to take silver, while the bronze medal in the category went to the Indian team of Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh.

Shooting was Türkiye's 10th medal in the history of the Olympic Games. Previously, Turkish athletes had won medals in wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo, boxing, karate, athletics, judo, archery and gymnastics.

The shooting success came a day after Türkiye won its first-ever team medal at the Olympics when the country’s men's archery team beat China 6-2 to claim the bronze medal.

Olympic and world champion Mete Gazoz, along with teammates Ulaş Tümer and Abdullah Yıldırmış, showed great discipline in the third-place match despite having lost the chance to be in the final with millimeters in the semifinal against France.

“There was no pressure from the stands or the crowd for us today,” Gazoz said after receiving his second Olympic medal.

“We were in the semifinals at the Olympics and we lost by millimeters. If they had said before we came here, 'We'll give you bronze, don't come here at all,' we would have said okay. Of course, we deserved to win, but I think we needed a little bit of luck and we didn't get it against France,” he added.

Gazoz added that the Turkish team will continue its hunt for medals in the individual and mixed team events.