Three athletes from Kayseri will participate in the Olympics

A total of 3 athletes will represent Kayseri at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, with 1 athlete competing in the Olympics and 2 in the Paralympics. Kayseri Provincial Director of Youth and Sports Ali İhsan Kabakcı stated, “Our athletes will raise our crescent-star flag to the top.”

The Olympic Games, to be held in the capital of France, Paris, from July 26 to August 11, 2024, will see 3 athletes from Kayseri participating. Sercan Koç will participate as a Muay Thai demonstration athlete. Paralympic B1 football players from Kayseri, Emre Aslan and Kerem Yıldırır, have also been called up to the national team.

The crescent-star athletes will compete in Group A against Brazil, the undefeated champion of the Paralympic Games, France, the European champion, and China, the Asian champion. The B1 Football matches in the Paralympic Games will be held in front of the Eiffel Tower, one of Paris’s iconic landmarks, from September 1 to 7. Ali İhsan Kabakcı, the Provincial Director of Youth and Sports of Kayseri, wished success to all athletes representing Turkey at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, saying, “Kayseri is a sports city. Firstly, we have a record number of athletes from our country participating in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. We have athletes who have been trained in our city and those who are licensed outside but have added value to our city. However, we have athletes primarily participating in the Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of our city. In the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, Emre Aslan and Kerem Yıldırır will compete in the B1 Football category. Especially, these brothers are achieving a first for our city. We congratulate both of them. At the same time, Sercan Koç is also a Muay Thai world champion. He is truly our star athlete. Since he will compete in Muay Thai in the coming years, Sercan Koç, who is one of the 3 athletes that became world champions, will also take the stage for demonstration at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Therefore, I also congratulate Sercan Koç. Again, we take pride in Burhan Akbudak from the Kayseri Wrestling Training Center, who will represent our country in the Greco-Roman style in the 77 kg category. I congratulate him as well.”

Kabakcı emphasized that the athletes participating in the Olympics will raise the Turkish flag, stating, “As someone who comes from sports, I feel this excitement. Hopefully, these athletes will raise our crescent-star flag. We have hope in them. The representation of these brothers for us and our city is a great source of pride. I believe they will succeed in this. Moving forward, an extraordinary team is working in the Turkish Olympic Preparation Centers to significantly train Olympic athletes in our city. We have big goals ahead. We will increase our numbers even more. I wish success to these brothers in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”