Soner Demirtaş (born 25 June 1991) is a Turkish freestyle wrestler who competes in the 74 kg division. He won the European title in 2016,[1] 2017[2] and 2018. He was bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics. He is a member of the Ankara ASKI.[3]
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Personal life
Soner Demirtaş was born to a butcher father as the third son of five in Çat village of Tokat on 25 June 1991. He is a student of physical education and sports at Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University in Karaman.[4][5][6] His three brothers are also sport wrestlers. He was inspired to take up wrestling by his eldest brother Bekir Demirtaş.[5]
Sports career
Demirtaş internationally debuted at the Freestyle Wrestling – Junior World Championships 2010 held in Budapest, Hungary, where he captured the silver medal.[7]
He took part at the 2012 European Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.[5]
He participated at the 2013 European Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.[5] He won the gold medal at the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey. He lost to Belarusian Ali Shabanau in the round of 16 at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
He won the bronze medal at the 2014 European Championships in Vantaa, Finland.[8] Demirtaş lost to Jumber Kvelashvili of Georgia in the round of 32 at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
He became silver medalist at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.[9] He lost to Narsingh Pancham Yadav from India in the round of 16 at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, United States. Demirtaş became a second time European champion in 2017 at Novi Sad, Serbia.[2]
In March 2021, he competed at the European Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary hoping to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.[10]
In 2022, he won the gold medal in his event at the Yasar Dogu Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey. He competed in the 74 kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia.[11]
In 2023, Soner Demirtaş, competing in the 2023 European Wrestling Championships freestyle 74 kilograms, defeated Azerbaijan's Dzhabrail Gadzhiev 5–4 in the repechage match. He won the bronze medal after his opponent Ali Pasha Umarpashaev, who competed for Bulgaria, did not compete due to injury.[12]
He won the silver medal in the men's 74 kg event at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships held in Bucharest, Romania.[13] He competed at the 2024 European Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan hoping to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.[14] He was eliminated in his second match and he did not qualify for the Olympics.[14]
References
External links
- Soner Demirtaş at the International Wrestling Database
- Soner Demirtaş at Olympics.com
- Soner Demirtaş at Olympedia
