Turkish competitors boarding for transport to the Parade at the Opening Ceremony.
Turkey has qualified send athletes to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. Sports the country qualified to compete in include 5-a-side football, archery, goalball and wheelchair basketball.
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[1][2] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.[3]
Administration and support
As of January 2016, the country had qualified 37 vision impaired athletes for Rio. The Games will be the first where Turkey sends teams in all vision impaired team sports.[4]
Turkey qualified for the Paralympics after finishing first at the 2015 IBSA Blind Football European Championships. They made it out of group play in second, with England having won the group after not dropping a game. Turkey dropped their game against England 1 - 2, with the English side goals coming from Turnham and English while the Turkish goal came from Hasan Şatay. In elimination play, Şatay and Abdullah Sümer scored two goals in penalty time after their game against Spain ended in 0 - 0 draw. Turkey then met Russia in the gold medal match, where Kahraman Gurbetoğlu scored to give Turkey a 1 - 0 win.[5][6]
The following is the Turkey squad in the football 5-a-side tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[7]
Turkey qualified three archers for the Rio Games following their performance at the 2015 World Archery Para Championships. The spots are all in the compound open, with 2 spots for men and 1 spot for a woman. Bülent Korkmaz earned Turkey's first spot in the men's compound open, with Erdoğan Aygan earning the second men's spot. Handan Biroğlu earned the women's spot after defeating Ireland's Kerrie-Louise Leonard to qualify for the quarterfinals.[8]
The Turkey women's national goalball team qualified for the Rio Games after finishing third at the 2014 IBSA Goalball World Championships. They defeated Japan in the bronze medal game to qualify.[11][12][13] Turkey’s assistant coach Eren Yıldırım said after his team qualified, "We had a nightmare in the semi-final against Russia (a 2-1 defeat). But our main aim was a place at Rio 2016 and we managed to recuperate and focus on this. We’re really pleased.”[13] Turkey's women enter the tournament ranked 5th in the world.[14]
The following is the Turkey roster in the women's goalball tournament of the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[15]
The first opportunity to qualify for shooting at the Rio Games took place at the 2014 IPC Shooting World Championships in Suhl. Shooters earned spots for their NPC. Turkey earned a qualifying spot at this event in the R2– 10m Air Rifle standing women SH1 event as a result of Çağla Baş winning a silver medal. Cevat Karagöl gave Turkey another spot in the P1– 10m Air Pistol Men SH1 event after winning a bronze medal.[16][17][18]
The country sent shooters to 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, where Rio direct qualification was also available. They earned a qualifying spot at this event based on the performance of Muharrem Korhan Yamaç in the P4– 50m Pistol Mixed SH1 event.[17][19]
The third opportunity for direct qualification for shooters to the Rio Paralympics took place at the 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup in Sydney, Australia. At this competition, Savaş Üstün earned a qualifying spot for their country in the R3 - Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 event.[17][20]
The last direct qualifying event for Rio in shooting took place at the 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup in Fort Benning, USA in November. Ayşegül Pehlivanlar earned a qualifying spot for their country at this competition in the P2 Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1 event. Murat Oğuz earned a second qualifying spot for Turkey at this competition in the P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event. Because no women qualified in the P3 Mixed 25m Pistol SH1 event, the spot for women was reallocated to P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1, which Turkey's Aysel Özgan claimed for her country. Hakan Çevik claimed another spot for Turkey with his performance in the R5 Mixed 10m Air Pistol Prone SH2 event.[17][21]
During the draw, Brazil had the choice of which group they wanted to be in. They were partnered with Spain, who would be in the group Brazil did not select. Brazil chose Group B, which included Iran, the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Algeria. That left Spain in Group A with Australia, Canada, Turkey, the Netherlands and Japan.[23]
