Our Student Who Wore the Uniform with the Crescent and the Star Became Balkan Champion

Our National Team including Turkish Athletics National Team athlete, İTÜ Chemistry Department student and Boğaziçi University Sports Club sportsperson Ali Aksu became the “Balkan Champion” in 4x400 relay race in Balkan Indoor Senior Athletics Championships.

Turkey completed Balkan Indoor Athletics Championships recently held at Istanbul at the first place with a total of 15 medals. Our national athletes broke 6 Turkey records, as well.

İTÜ student Ali Aksu, who wore the uniform with the crescent and the star for the first time, was acclaimed for his performance in the races. Last year, the young athlete had become Turkey’s Third in 87th Turkish Senior and U-23 Athletics Championships.

“Our Goal is the Gold Medal in European Athletics Championships”

“This season we got a good start in our training as always. Despite the unfortunate injury I had two months before the indoor races, I recovered very quickly and got back into form thanks to the knowledge and experience of my coach İbrahim Eksin and we achieved a good score by pulling our best indoor score of 49.50 seconds in 400 meters down to 48.36 seconds in the Turkish Championships. Then we received an invitation from the national team for the Balkan Championships and were enlisted in the national team. On Saturday, 20 February, I wore the national uniform for the first time and we brought Balkan Championship to our country by overtaking our rivals Bulgaria and Romania in the 4x400 meters relay race. This was a good beginning for us. Our goal is to get the gold medal in European Athletics Championships.”

Expressing that his coach Prof. Dr. İbrahim Eksin and the administrator of the team Murat Akdağ played a very important role in BÜ Sports Club’s achievements in the athletics branch, Aksu said, “Many people’s efforts are behind this achievement, but I should mention first and foremost my coach Prof. Dr. İbrahim Eksin, my assistant coaches Murat Akdağ, Rana Sanyal, Said Merjo, Bülent Eksin, Kazım Kıyan and Orhun Eksin, and finally İTÜ/Boğaziçi Athletics Team. I would like to thank them all for their support.”

“I am once again proud of being an İTÜ member.”

Prof. Dr. İbrahim Eksin, who is a retired faculty member of İTÜ Faculty of Electrical and Electronics, Department of Control and Automation Engineering and also a national athlete, said the following about his student’s success: “I entered İTÜ Sports Club in the 1973-74 season to compete in the athletics branch and became the team captain. I had the honor to be a national athlete while I was in the club. Now it is a great joy to have the pride of being the coach of a talented İTÜ athlete such as Ali in the Balkan championship. Ali earned this success in a very short time of 2.5 years with the ideal of amateur and clean sport. I congratulate him from the heart and I know that all İTÜ community will be proud of him. I extend my gratitude to BU Sports Club, Athletics Volunteers Association (AGÖN) and İTÜ&BU Athletics teams who have a share in this success.”