SARSILMAZ, a leading company in Türkiye’s defence industry, has become the title and main sponsor of the SARSILMAZ Turkish Air Gun Championship, which will be held in Mersin from 30 June to 5 July 2026. The sponsorship aims to contribute to the development of young athletes and help Olympic shooting reach a broader audience across Türkiye. Organised as part of the Turkish Shooting Federation’s official competition calendar, the championship will bring together athletes competing in the 10 Metre Air Rifle and 10 Metre Air Pistol disciplines. Featuring qualification rounds and finals across different age categories, the event will contribute both to strengthening sporting competition and to expanding the reach of Olympic shooting.
The competitions will take place at the Olympic Shooting Complex in Erdemli, Mersin, between 30 June and 5 July 2026. The finals will be held from 1 to 5 July, with the championship concluding with the official award ceremonies.
Türkiye’s historic achievement in the 10 metre air pistol mixed team event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games significantly increased public interest in Olympic shooting, while also bringing wider attention to the discipline’s demanding requirements in terms of focus, control and consistency. Through its support for the championship, SARSILMAZ aims to help transform this growing interest into sustainable sporting development.
SARSILMAZ’s support for Olympic shooting carries particular significance not only because of the company’s expertise in defence and security, but also because of its longstanding and deeply rooted connection with the discipline. Latif Aral Aliş, Chairman of the Board of SARSILMAZ, served as President of the Turkish Shooting and Hunting Federation between 2004 and 2012, leading major initiatives aimed at advancing the institutional development of the sport, strengthening athlete development programmes and expanding Türkiye’s Olympic representation capacity.
In recognition of his longstanding contributions to shooting sports, Aliş was awarded the title of Honorary President for Life by the Turkish Shooting and Hunting Federation. His extensive experience and commitment in this field add further significance to SARSILMAZ’s support for Olympic shooting.
During this period, Turkish shooting achieved several notable milestones in Olympic history. At the London 2012 Olympic Games, Türkiye secured Olympic quota places for five shooting athletes for the first time, reaching the highest number of Olympic participants the country had achieved in the discipline up to that date. At the same Games, Nihan Gürer became one of the first female athletes to represent Türkiye in the trap discipline, contributing to the achievement of an important milestone in the history of shooting sports during the Republican era.
Olympic shooting stands out as a specialised sporting discipline practised on the basis of a strong safety culture, technical training, ethical conduct and strict adherence to international rules. Requiring millimetric precision, breath control, mental resilience and the ability to make accurate decisions under pressure, the discipline offers young athletes not only a competitive environment but also a development platform that reinforces a culture of disciplined and systematic training.
From this perspective, the SARSILMAZ Turkish Air Gun Championship represents more than a national championship. It is regarded as an important organisation for supporting young talent, strengthening the national team athlete pool, promoting a culture of safe sport and transferring Olympic values to a new generation of athletes.
Commenting on the sponsorship, Latif Aral Aliş, Chairman of the Board of SARSILMAZ, said:
“Our longstanding manufacturing strength, engineering capabilities and security-oriented corporate culture in the defence industry have demonstrated a clear reality: genuine performance does not derive from technical competence alone. It becomes meaningful and sustainable when combined with discipline, responsibility, focus and a strong ethical foundation. Olympic shooting represents the sporting embodiment of these values at the highest level of precision and concentration.
At SARSILMAZ, we do not regard our support for this championship as a temporary or periodic sponsorship initiative. It is a clear expression of our sustained, determined and unwavering commitment to the development of Olympic shooting, the athlete development ecosystem and our objective of creating greater international value for Turkish sport.
Organisations of this nature have strategic importance in terms of athlete development, system building and strengthening international competitiveness. We therefore consider this championship to be a structural step that accelerates the development of young athletes, reinforces the Olympic culture and elevates Türkiye’s global competitiveness in shooting sports.
We believe that this organisation, delivered in cooperation with our Federation, public institutions and local stakeholders, is not merely a sporting competition. It is a fundamental building block that will help shape the future of Olympic shooting and create lasting value for Turkish sport.”
Through this sponsorship, SARSILMAZ aims to combine its longstanding expertise in defence and security with sport’s capacity to contribute to social development, while supporting the continued advancement of Olympic shooting in Türkiye.
