Ebrar Karakurt at the heart of Turkey’s great Olympic start
#TakingTheStage
Turkish team is off to a great start at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, hugely thanks to their young star Ebrar Karakurt. The 21-year old opposite player established her position in the senior national team and is looking forward to shine alongside her teammates at her very first Olympics.
Turkey were put to a tough task in their very first match of the tournament as they faced reigning Olympic champions from Rio 2016, China. But the Turkish team was prepared and motivated to play one of the strongest teams in the world, beating China 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-14). Karakurt led the team with an 18-point result, including 16 winning spikes, one block and one ace. No other player on either side of the net came close to match her result. But despite great statistics for Karakurt as an individual player and her team, the Turkish opposite remained grounded when she discussed the match afterwards.
“We didn’t expect it to be this easy against China, because you know that they are the defending champions. They have really good players, but we played really good volleyball and showed great performance. We’re so happy”, she admitted after the match.
Karakurt stands out from the crowd not just thanks to her incredible volleyball skills or cheerful pink hair, but her irresistible energy she displays during the game. Her teams feeds off that energy and it keeps the players going.
Meliha Ismailoglu“Karakurt is amazing and I am so proud of her. She is young and so confident in everything she does."
Outside Hitter of Turkey
Ebrar Karakurt has a number of medals won with senior Turkish national team, including silver medal at European Championship 2019, as well two medals from FIVB Nations League: silver from 2018 edition in Nanjing and bronze from the most recent tournament in Rimini 2021. She stood on the top of the podium at FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship, but the she is yet to win the gold at a senior level. Karakurt doesn’t hide the fact that playing at the Olympic Games was her ultimate goal. The first step now is to reach the Quarter-final phase. Can she make it further with her teammates and bring home the most valuable medal? The following weeks will tell!
Ebrar Karakurt"The Olympic Games is the highest level tournament in our sport. It was my childhood dream like everyone else’s. I am very happy that I achieved this dream at a young age. Of course, I’m very excited to represent our country here. I think we’re in a tough group. Our motivation will be different there. Our first goal is to qualify to the Quarter-finals. We will be concentrating on each match, we’ll fight until the end and we’ll never give up."
Opposite of Turkey