Aysel Özgan (born 5 May 1978) is a Turkish female paralympic shooter competing in the pistol events. She took part at the

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2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Summer Paralympic Games The Summer Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebr ...

Early life

Aysel Özgan was born in

Giresun Giresun () is a city in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. It is the seat of Giresun Province and Giresun District.vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

e due to an

aneurysmal bone cyst Aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC) is a non-cancerous bone tumor composed of multiple varying sizes of spaces in a bone which are filled with blood. The term is a misnomer, as the lesion is neither an aneurysm nor a cyst. It generally presents with ...

. She was paralyzed below her chest due to complications that arose from the second surgery and is unable to walk, with restricted movement in her right arm. She uses a wheelchair. After passing a special exam for physically disabled persons, she was appointed a government official. In 2015, Özgan moved to

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

, Turkey. She is an employee of the provincial Youth Services and Sports Administration.

Sporting career

Özgan's shooting sport career began in 2004 when the Turkish Shooting Championships were hosted in her hometown of Giresun, Upon urging of her friends, she applied for a license to shoot, and took part in the competition as the only female athlete. She won the championship on her first attempt even though she had not used a firearm before. She was called up to the qualifiers, and was selected for the national Paralympic shooting team one year after the first tournament in which she participated. Özgan competes in the P2 women's 10m air pistol SH1 and P4 Mixed 50m air pistol SH1 events. Paralympic shooters, who do not need a shooting stand to support the firearm, are categorized in the SH1 class. Özgan is a member of Yıldırım Belediyespor in Bursa. She represented her country at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and 2012 London Paralympics. At the 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup held in

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

, USA, she qualified to participate at the

2016 Rio Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 Sept ...

. Özgan took the gold medal in the P2 SH1 event at the 2012 IPC Shooting World Cup held in

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

, Poland. In 2015, Özgan won the silver medal in the P2 10m air pistol SH1 event at the IPC Shooting World Cup held in

, United States. This success brought her a quota spot for the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

. She placed seventh in the P2 10m air pistol SH1 qualification event at the 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, Croatia. She won the 2016 Turkish Shooting Championship in the 10m air pistol event. At the 2016 IPC Shooting World Cup in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, Thailand, she took the silver medal with her teammates in the P4 SH1 event. She became gold medalist in the P4 50m air pistol event of SH1 category at the 2017 IPC World Cup held in

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Germany.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozgan, Aysel 1978 births Living people Turkish female sport shooters Wheelchair-category Paralympic competitors Paralympic shooters for Turkey Shooters at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2024 Summer Paralympics 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Sportspeople from Giresun