Ali Dogan, gold medal winner at The World Games 2017 was honoured to meet with the President of Turkey this week and have his achievement recognised.
In July Ali was among the first muaythai athletes to compete at The World Games; 88 of the best athletes from over 40 countries competed for gold. And at the end he was standing on the podium for Turkey in the 81kg division.
This was a huge achievement for Turkish muaythai as Ali became the first Turkish athlete to win gold at elite male level with IFMA muaythai as well as joining the first muaythai athletes to win gold at TWG.
This week Turkey as a nation marked Victory Day, and a small number of national heroes and families of those who died in terrorist attacks were honoured with a reception by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as part of the commemorations.
The President and Prime Minister Sayın Binali Yıldırım congratulated Ali on his success at The World Games 2017, and hope he can continue to succeed in his chosen sport.
Ali said he was proud to be included in this list of people, and he has proudly represented Turkey on the world stage in Wroclaw. He said: ‘I am very proud and honoured that I brought home the first gold medal, and I am honoured to teach about my march to success, and now to be part of Independence celebrations on the world platform.’
Ali said the support he has received in Turkey since winning gold has been huge, and he is looking forward to representing his country again very soon.
Hasan Yildiz, head of the Turkish Muaythai Federation said: ‘This achievement is in the name of muaythai and Ali is a representative of the Turkish Federation and IFMA on a platform at the highest level of respect in Turkey as we saw today. We congratulate our athlete Ali Dogan and his trainer Göksel Cingöz.’
In Wroclaw the 81kg muaythai was keenly contested and Ali had to fight three times in just three days to win his gold. In the final he faced Swedish champion Constantin Naga, in the semi-final Polish champion and hometown favourite Rafal Korczak, and in the first round Mohammed Salemeh, Jordan’s champion.
Follow Ali Dogan on Instagram for his next muaythai adventure!
Video – Ali Dogan.
