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Aysel Özgan (born May 5, 1978) is a Turkish female paralympic shooter competing in the pistol events. She took part at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Early life
Aysel Özgan was born in Giresun, Turkey on May 5, 1978. When she was 12 years old, she was forced to interrupt her education because of health problems. She twice underwent surgery on her neck due to a separation of the vertebrae. She was paralyzed below her chest due to complications that arose from the second surgery and is unable to walk, with restricted movement in her right arm. She uses a wheelchair.
In 2015, Özgan moved to Bursa, Turkey. She is an employee of the provincial Youth Services and Sports Administration.
Sporting career
Özgan's shooting sport career began in 2004 when the Turkish Shooting Championships were hosted in her hometown of Giresun, Upon urging of her friends, she applied for a license to shoot, and took part in the competition as the only female athlete. She won the championship on her first attempt even though she had not used a firearm before.
She was called up to the qualifiers, and was selected fot the national Paralympic shooting team one year after the first tournament in which she participated.
Özgan competes in the P2 women's 10m air pistol SH1 and P4 Mixed 50m air pistol SH1 events. Paralympic shooters, who do not need a shooting stand to support the firearm, are categorized in the SH1 class. Özgan is a member of Yıldırım Belediyespor.
She represented her country at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and 2012 London Paralympics. At the 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup held in Fort Benning, USA, she qualified to participate at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Özgan took the gold medal in the P2 SH1 event at the 2012 IPC Shooting World Cup held in Szczecin, Poland.
In 2015, Özgan won the silver medal in the P2 10m air pistol SH1 event at the IPC Shooting World Cup held in Fort Benning, United States. This success brought her a quota spot for the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She placed seventh in the P2 10m air pistol SH1 qualification event at the 2015 IPC Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia.
She won the 2016 Turkish Shooting Championship in the 10m air pistol event. At the 2016 IPC Shooting World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, she took the silver medal with her team mates in the P4 SH1 event.