Our first licensed female athlete and referee in competitive shooting: Canan Türkoğlu

Canan Türkoğlu, who participated in competitions as an athlete in the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) shooting discipline and also served as a referee, has been appearing in the Olympic shooting for 12 years, and stands out by having earned many championships. Türkoğlu stated that “I have inter-university championships and degrees in Turkey. I have 9 individual records in Turkey and 2 team records. In addition to my 5th place in the Islamic Games and 5th place in the Mediterranean Games, I represented our country in successful rankings in many World Cups, World Championships and European Championships.” She is the first female athlete to practice IDPA shooting sport, which is not Olympic but very commonly practiced in the world, as a licensed athlete and a referee in Turkey.

From amateur sports to professional coaching…

I attended a shooting meeting, which was established for the first time in our university, upon the invitation of my classmate. Olympic shooting disciplines were introduced there. We were given test shots at the air gun range in our school. My girlfriend, who was there and was a national team athlete at that time, said that my shooting was very good and that I had shooting skills. She encouraged me to continue”, and added that she is currently working as a national team athlete and professional coach in this sport, which she started as an amateur that day. Congratulating our female athletes who represented Turkey at the Olympics a few months ago and achieved success, Türkoğlu said, “I want to compete in the Olympic Games, which is the dream of every professional athlete, to represent our country successfully there, and even to crown my success with a medal.”