Ali Sarı

Ali Sarı is a Turkish taekwondo athlete born on 24 November 1986 in Beyşehir district of Konya. He competed in the heavyweight division and became one of Türkiye's internationally successful taekwondo players with his Mediterranean Games championship and European Championship medal.

He spent his school years in Beyşehir, then studied at Selçuk University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. He started taekwondo as a child; He worked together with his brothers Yunus and Talha Sarı, who are also national athletes, at the sports center opened by his family in Beyşehir. His coach is Ekrem Boyalı.

Sports career

He won his first national championship in 1998 in the +36 kg category. He was selected for the national team in 2006. His first major international honor was the bronze medal in the -84 kg category at the World University Summer Games in Bangkok in 2007. The following year he finished third again at the World University Championships in Belgrade. In 2010, he finished first in the Northern Cyprus Open and the French Open tournaments in Paris.

In 2011, he reached the finals in the +87 kg category at the World University Summer Games held in Shenzhen, China, and won the silver medal. In 2012, he won the bronze medal in the -87 kg category at the European Taekwondo Championships in Manchester; In the same year, he finished second at the Spanish Open in Alicante. In 2013, he won the silver medal at the Dutch Open in Eindhoven.

The most important success of his career came at the Mediterranean Games held in Mersin in 2013. He won the gold medal by beating his Greek opponent Aleksandros Nikolaidis 5-0 in the +80 kg final.