Participants Speak about the Games

A team from Turkey participated in the Winners' Games this year. Here is the note from the team.

These are our children! We are proud of them! Thanks to these young heroes, Turkish flag is recognized around the world.

13 children 12 – 16 years of age who have overcome life-threatening diseases formed a team and with the support of Lösev Foundation took part in the Winners’ Games on August 4 – 7, 2011. Over 300 young athletes from nine countries came to Foresta Tropicana Hotel, located a few kilometers away from Moscow, to compete in athletic events for childhood cancer survivors. These children represented Belarus, Check Republic, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Romania and Turkey. During two Game days children competed in swimming, running, football, table tennis, chess and shooting.

A team from Turkey had a chance to represent our country in the Games this year. This athletic event for the children who won their battle with cancer are held first and foremost to give these amazing kids from different part of the world a boost of optimism and positive energy.

The young athletes from our country showed amazing results! Ece Ildiri won a gold medal in table tennis. Nur Sayginer finished second in a100-m run, and Kubra Ozalan came third in the same competition. Football teams were international this year: young players from different countries played on the same team. Firat Ceylan scored 7 goals and helped his team become first among the teams in the youngest age group. The score was 8:0. Firat was proclaimed the player of the day. We are very proud of our winner, a rearkable representative of Turkey and Lösev Foundation! Our young athletes also showed good results in swimming and chess.

We are grateful to everybody who made it possible. We would like to thank Turkish Embassy of Russia for assistance in organizing our trip, for the cordial greeting and hospitality our team received. We are grateful to Aeroflot Company for the safe and comfortable flight, to "Anadolu Sigorta" for providing insurance for the duration of the trip. We extend our thanks to Decatlon Company for providing uniforms for our athletes. We would like to thank RUTID Company for a wonderful day spent in Moscow; thanks to the Turkish restaurant GURME our children enjoyed an incredibly delicious dinner while in Moscow. We are deeply grateful to Alice Borisova, director of Turkish Club, for providing interpreting for our team. Alice never left our team's side for 5 days doing anything she could to ensure all our children's needs were met. And last but not least, we are incredibly grateful to Evgenia Rodukova, Elvina Abdulgazizova and Ristem Khadziev. Our children would never have had so much fun without you!

We are grateful for all of you.