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Cakmak and Yenihayat win golds as part of Türkiye's strong campaign in Rome

25 July 2026

Rome, Italy

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Defne Cakmak and Dunya Yenihayat became individual European Youth champions on Saturday as part of an impressive gold medal haul by Türkiye at Rome 2026.

The current European Indoor compound under-21 women champion Cakmak met teammate Begum Yuva in the gold medal match at the Stadio Nando Martellini - both of whom were the top seeds following Tuesday’s qualification round - and, as she did in Plovdiv earlier this year, the 19-year-old trumped Begum, this time 145-140.

Number one seed Begum could not better her compatriot in Italy, failing to win one set out of the five, and tying with her just twice - the third and last ends for both being 30 and 29.

It’s worth mentioning that although this contest was at youth level, both have had experience on senior international shooting lines, and Cakmak has shot at seven events this year on Türkiye's national compound women team, competing at World Cups, European Grand Prixs and the European Outdoor Championships 2026.

Whilst Begum, also 19, has been in Türkiye’s squad too as recently as last year, the form of Cakmak proved dividends as she handled the southerly breeze, not dropping a single eight in the match - compared to Begum’s three - and nailing the X-ring six times.

Yenihayat’s gold medal match in recurve under-18 women was a tighter affair.

The Limerick 2023 World Archery Youth Championships bronze medallist edged Ukraine’s Anna Anisimova 6-4 and cemented the result in the latter two ends with a perfect 30 and a 29.

Yenihayat - who has been on Türkiye’s senior recurve women’s squad since she was just 14 years old - was a wide favourite, especially after putting 24 points between herself and the chasing pack in qualifications, but was down 4-2 after falling short to Anisimova 25-26, 26-27 in the middle ends.

The resolve of the 17-year-old athlete, however, rewarded her with her maiden individual gold medal at any age group and Türkiye’s fifth top podium overall in Rome, which included golds in compound under-18 mixed team, recurve under-18 mixed team [which featured Yenihayat], compound under-18 women’s team, as well as hers and Cakmak’s.