Ayşegül Pehlivanlar (born 5 December 1979) is a Turkish paralympic shooter competing in the pistol events. She won a bronze medal at 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Early life

Ayşegül Pehlivanlar was born on 5 December 1979. She was paralyzed due to a

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

that was the result of a car accident, which took place while returning from a vacation together with her parents. Pehlivanlar's mother was killed in the accident, and she began to use a wheelchair from then on.

Sporting career

In 2013, Pehlivanlar's skills in a

shooting range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue, or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice, or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by milita ...

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

drew the attention of a coach. This was the first time in her life she had visited a shooting range. She admitted that "with the help of shooting sport" she overcame her

introversion Extraversion and introversion are a central trait dimension in human personality theory. The terms were introduced into psychology by Carl Jung, though both the popular understanding and current psychological usage are not the same as Jung's o ...

she developed after the accident and goes outside more compared to before," adding that "she is today more

self-confident Confidence is the feeling of belief or Trust (social science), trust that a person or thing is reliable. * * * Self-confidence is trust in oneself. Self-confidence involves a positive belief that one can generally accomplish what one wishes t ...

." She says that "she learned one can do everything if believes it." Her father, a former sportsperson, is her biggest supporter in sports. Pehlivanlar competes in the P2 women's 10m air pistol SH1 and P4 Mixed 50m air pistol SH1 events. SH1 is the Paralympic shooting classification for athletes, who do not require a shooting stand to support the firearm. Currently, she is a member of the shooting and hunting club "Atıcılık ve Avcılık SK" in Istanbul. She participated at the Turkish Championships in

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

for the first time in 2015, and captured the gold medal. She was then admitted to the national team in April 2015, and represented her country at international competitions like

IPC Shooting World Cup IPC may refer to: Businesses and organizations Arts and media * Intellectual Property Committee, a coalition of US corporations with intellectual property interests * International Panorama Council, an international network of specialists in ...

2015 in

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, Croatia, 2015 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 ...

United States and 2016 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. In 2015, Pehlivanlar took the gold medal with 188.9 points in the final in the Women's P2 10m air pistol SH1 event at the IPC Shooting World Cup held in Fort Benning, United States. This success brought her a quota place for the

. It will be her first participation at the Paralympics. She was also part of the P4 50m Air Pistol Mixed SH1 team at the same competition. She became the runner-up at the 2016 Turkish Championships held in Mersin. Pehlivanlar became bronze medalist in the 10m air pistol SH1 event at the

. She won the silver medal in the P2 10m air pistol SH1 event at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pehlivanlar, Aysegul Living people 1979 births Place of birth missing (living people) Wheelchair-category Paralympic competitors Paralympic shooters for Turkey Turkish female sport shooters Shooters at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for Turkey Paralympic medalists in shooting People with paraplegia Shooters at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Turkey Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics 21st-century Turkish sportswomen