Oya Ekici

Oya Ekici (born 1975) is a Turkish para-karateka, who competes in the kata K-30 disability class at international level. She started her sports career at the age of 43, and became her country's one of the first two female para-karatekas.

Oya Ekici
Born1975 (age 47–48)
Ankara, Turkey
NationalityTurkish
TeamKatana Sports Club
Medal record
Women's Para-Karate
Representing  Turkey
Europeand Championships
Bronze medal – third place2022 Gaziantep Kata K-30

Personal life

Oya Ekici was born in 1975. At the age of two, she contracted polio. Her right leg knee joint remained blocked. She underwent 21 surgeries in total.[1][2] She relies on crutches to get around.[2]

She is a mother of two children.[2] She has been working as a biologist at the Hacettepe University Hospital in Ankara since 2007.[1][3][4]

Sports career

Early years

Ekici started performing para-karate at the age of 44 in 2019, encouraged by her karateka daughter, who had been performing since six years at that time.[1][2] In 2020, she performed para-karate with sticks trained by her coach.[1] She is a member of Katana Sports Club in Ankara and performs para-karate training twice a week coached by Turgay Okumuş. At the opening of the 2021 Turkish Seniors and Veterans Karate Championship in Adana, she performed a kata show with crutches.[3] She competes in the kata K-30 category.[5] K-30 is the physical disability classification of the kata event for the wheelchair para-karateka with impairment in the legs.[6]

The first national para-karate championship in Turkey was held at Kocaeli in December 2022.[7] She competed there, and became runner-up after Nesrin Cavadzade.[1][2] She became so Turkey's one of the first two para-karatekas.[2]

In February 2023, she performed a para-kata show with her teammate at the Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy Hospital in Ankara to motivate the physically disabled military personnel for para-karate.[8]

International career

Ekici is a member of the national team. She competed in the kata K-30 event at the 2022 European Karate Championships held in Gaziantep, Turkey, and won the bronze medal for the first time in the national team's history.[5][9]

References
  1. Gazioğlu, Fatih (16 January 2023). "Türkiye'nin ilk para karatecileri, dünya şampiyonasından "altın"la dönmek istiyor". Habertürk (in Turkish). Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  2. "Türkiye's 1st para karatekas Ekici, Cavadzade eye world titles". Daily Sabah. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  3. "Karateye Engel Yok" (in Turkish). Türkiye Karate Federasyonu. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  4. "Ataması yapılan personel listesi 2" (PDF) (in Turkish). Hacettepe Üniversitesi. 25 October 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  5. "Para Karate Avrupa Şampiyonası'nda 2 Madalya". Habertürk (in Turkish). 29 May 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  6. "ParaKarate Kategorileri ve Kuralları" (PDF) (in Turkish). Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  7. "Para-Karate Türkiye Şampiyonası ilk kez gerçekleştirildi". SporX (in Turkish). 26 December 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  8. "Milli para karateciler gazilerle bir araya geldi". TRT Haber (in Turkish). 4 February 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  9. "Türkiye'nin ilk para karate madalyasını Hacettepe personeli aldı". Hacettepe Üniversitesi (in Turkish). 7 June 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
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