National Kickboxers Aim for Gold at the European Championship

Cebrail Gençoğlu, Muhammed Enes Yanmaz and Emirhan Çalışır make up the National Kickboxing Team, which has qualified to compete in the championship on November 6-15. The national athletes are preparing by training intensively six days a week. Some days they train once, and other days they train twice.

National Team Coach Emre Şahin said that the right to compete in the championship is the result of about 1.5 years of work. Şahin noted that last year they competed at the World Championship with two athletes, and this year they are taking part with three. Stressing that reaching the top at the European Championship is not easy, Şahin said the team is ambitious and wants to return with three European titles.

Gençoğlu said he has been involved in the sport for about 25 years. He noted that over his career he has won 1 world title, 1 European title and 25 Turkish titles, and has also taken 3 second places at the World Championship. He said that they have been doing serious preparation for about 2.5 months. He expressed that their goal is to bring another European title back to the country and to have the Turkish national anthem played across Europe.

Muhammed Enes Yanmaz said he has been doing kickboxing for 8 years. Yanmaz said that so far he has won 2 world titles, 1 European title and 8 Turkish titles, and stated that he wants to win another European title in Macedonia and return as a European champion. Emirhan Çalışır said he has been doing this sport for about 6 years and has 1 world title in the youth category and 3 Turkish titles in the senior category. Çalışır said that they are trying to use Erzurum's altitude to gain an advantage over their opponents. He added that he joined the national team for the first time as a result of tournaments held in 2026, and that his goal has always been to become champion.