European champions Turkish Down syndrome futsal team visit Anadolu

By Bozhan Memis

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish Down syndrome futsal team, which won the gold medal at the Futsal European Championships held in Padova, Italy, visited Anadolu Wednesday.

"We want to take this cup to our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We love him very much," said the players who bagged the trophy by beating Portugal 2-1 in the final.

"We promised that we would get the cup, and we've kept our promise. Türkiye is the greatest."

"We showed what these children, who were told years ago, 'This child cannot study or work,' can achieve when they are given the opportunity," said the Turkish Special Athletes Sports Federation president, Birol Aydin, "I've never been this excited for a match in my life. We fell behind 1-0 but managed to pull a comeback to win 2-1."

Stressing Türkiye's significant success in the European Championship, Aydin said, "We went to Italy with 35 athletes in branches such as athletics, table tennis, judo and basketball. We finished the organization second in the rankings."

"We returned to Türkiye with 59 medals, 26 of which were gold. This was a record. In recent years, we have shoved Europe on how Türkiye has provided opportunities to disabled children."

*Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp