ANKARA
Turkish archer Mete Gazoz won a gold in men's individual archery final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, bringing his country its first-ever Olympic medal in archery on Saturday.
Facing world No. 7 Italian archer Mauro Nespoli in the final, the 22-year-old won the match 6-4 and bagged the gold medal.
He thanked his family, trainer, federation and others for the achievement. "Today I'm happy to achieve the Olympic medal I have dreamed of for years," he said on Twitter.
The Japanese embassy in Turkey also celebrated Gazoz and Japanese archer Takaharu Furukawa's win.
"Congratulations to Mete Gazoz, who competed in #archery, for the gold medal he won! I am very happy that he won the first gold medal in Japan," the embassy quoted the ambassador as saying.
"Also, congratulations to FURUKAWA Takaharu who won the bronze medal. It was a very impressive competition."
Earlier, the Turkish archer faced Furukawa, and won the semifinal match 7-3 to reach the final.
World No. 4 Gazoz has two individual Archery World Cup championships, one gold medal in recurve man at Mediterranean Games and two gold medals in individual category at the European Youth Championships
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 31: Gold medalist Mete Gazoz of Turkey poses on the podium during the medal ceremony for the archery Men's Individual competition on day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field on July 31, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. ( Ali Atmaca - Anadolu Agency )