Gokhan Biçer and Onur Tastan, visually impaired judokas of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Youth and Sports Club, aim for Paris. The two athletes will work for the 2024 Paris Paralympics after success at the European and World Championships.
Gökhan Biçer, who won the silver medal in 24 kilos at the Visually Impaired Judo World Grand Prix competitions held in Antalya on 25-90 April, and Onur Taştan, who won the bronze medal in the 90 kilos plus XNUMX kilos, set their goals as the Olympic Games.
Gökhan Biçer, who told the story of the beginning of judo, said, “I heard about our friend Sergen Gündüz, who was in our club at that time, and I started judo by emulating him. I feel happy and peaceful while doing judo. Being in tatamide allows me to get rid of all my negative emotions.” Biçer said, “I could see until the second grade of secondary school, but then I got night blindness. Naturally, I am having trouble playing sports. But I learned to overcome everything," he said. Expressing that he has been an athlete of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Youth and Sports Club since 2015, the visually impaired judoka said, “I met our coach Münir Tunç, one of our club's trainers. He helped me and I came to the club. In my weight class, I have been the gold medalist in national competitions since 2016. In international tournaments, I got the third place in Lithuania and finally I won a silver medal in Antalya. My next target is the top of the podium. I want to raise our flag and sing our National Anthem at the Paralympic Olympics to be held in Paris in 2024.
“Judo gives me confidence and courage”
Onur Taştan, who stated that he was born with a visual disability, said, “I started judo very late. I wish I had known earlier and could have started sooner. I once did taekwondo, but with my father's encouragement, I found myself in tatami. I feel confident and courageous here,” he said. Taştan stated that he came to İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Youth and Sports Club in 2015 and said, “I won gold medals in national championships. I have won bronze medals in the last two international championships. "My goal is not the third place, but the championship now," he said. Stating that they have accelerated the work for the Paralympic Olympics to be held in Paris in 2024, Taştan said, “Our work in this direction continues. I want to go to the Olympics by taking part in various tournaments and collecting quota points. While doing this, I always aim to stay at the top. We will achieve this with the support of our club.
Destination Paris
Stating that Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Youth and Sports Club is successful in sports branches for the disabled, Head Coach of Judo Mesut Kapan said, “This is not our first medal. We are investing in the future with our visually and hearing impaired athletes. We won bronze medals in 2012 London Paralympic Olympics and silver medals in 2013 Deaf Olympic Games in judo based on our Municipality's Engelsizmir project. The most important goals of our athletes Gökhan Biçer and Onur Taştan will now be to take part in the Paralympic Olympics to be held in Paris in 2024. We believe that they will represent İzmir in the best way in Paris by learning from the quota points they lost unfortunately in 2020.”
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