Abdi İbrahim offers support to national swimmers

As the healing force of Türkiye, Abdi İbrahim cares deeply about our world and society, and accordingly, considers its social benefit-oriented activities an essential component of its operations. Building on this philosophy, Abdi İbrahim supports young athletes as part of its social investment program category of “health and sports.”

Our support for sports and athletes is guided by our sustainability strategy we have named HEAL2030, which is shaped by the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) approach. The sponsorship support we provide to national athletes directly addresses the health and sports category of this strategy. Abdi İbrahim’s goal is to support young people and Turkish sports while creating value for our nation and our society.

For the first time in the pharmaceutical industry, in 2021 we signed a sponsorship agreement with record-holder national swimmer Emre Sakcı, offering long-term support to the athlete for a period of four years. Since then, Emre has set a new world record and won several medals in national and international competitions.

In addition to Emre, we have also become the main sponsor of Merve Tuncel, national swimmer who already has World and European youth titles under her belt. In November 2022, we signed a four-year sponsorship agreement with this accomplished athlete.

About Emre Sakcı

A licensed athlete of Fenerbahçe Sports Club, Emre Sakcı started swimming at the age of three, and was selected to the A National Team when he was 15. In 2015, Emre became the first Turkish athlete to break the world record in the junior category by achieving a time of 26.67 in the 50m breaststroke at the Turkish Inter-Club Short-Course Swimming Championship trials.

In 2019, Emre won the silver medal in the European Short Course Championship in the 50m breaststroke, a first ever for Turkish swimming. In 2020, he broke the short-course European record in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 25.50 seconds during the International Swimming League in Budapest. Emre further advanced his European short course 50m breaststroke record with a time of 25.29 during the same event. This was the fastest result after the world record. Emre went on to break the European record in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 55.74, and set three other European records in ISL.

After signing a sponsorship agreement with Abdi İbrahim, Emre broke the world record in the 50m breaststroke during the Türkiye Şehitkamil Arena Inter-Club Short Course Junior and Open Age Swimming Championship. Emre won two gold medals in the Islamic Solidarity Games and two silvers in the 2022 Mediterranean Games.

Our national swimming athlete Emre Sakcı, whom we have been sponsoring with our firm belief in the healing power of sports, has forged a place in history by breaking the world record in the 50-meter breaststroke, achieving a time of 24.95 seconds.🏊‍♂

This achievement is a turning point in Emre Sakcı’s life.

We are now immortalizing these significant milestones in the life of our athlete with our NFT collection, which we have named “24 by Emre Sakcı.”

The collection, carries the signature of the renowned illustrator Kaan Bağcı. The revenues from the “24 by Emre Sakcı” NFT collection will be donated to the Hope Foundation for Children with Cancer in support of children struggling with this disease. 💙

You can access the collection via the OpenSea marketplace: https://opensea.io/collection/24byemresakci

About Merve Tuncel

Born on January 1, 2005 in Ankara, Merve Tuncel started swimming at the age of four. A licensed athlete of ENKA sports club, Mervel set the short course junior world record in the 1500m freestyle in the Türkiye Arena Inter-Club Short Course Junior and Open Swimming Championship in December 2020.

In the European Junior Swimming Championships 2021 in Rome Italy, Merve won gold medals in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events to become the first athlete to win gold in all three categories at the same time. Merve also set the junior European record in the 800m freestyle with a time of 08:21.91, and in the 1500m freestyle with a time of 15:55.23. During the same championship, Merve also won bronze in the 4x200 freestyle relay race.

In the 19th Mediterranean Games, which took place in Algeria in June, Merve won the gold medal in the 800m freestyle, becoming the first Turkish female athlete to do so. In addition, she won bronze in the 200 butterfly and the 4x200 freestyle relay.

In the Fifth Islamic Solidarity Games, which took place in Konya, the accomplished athlete won gold medals in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events, and set the championship record in the 1500m category. Merve and the Turkish national team also won gold medal in the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relay races.

In the European Aquatics Championships, held in Italy, Rome on August 11-17, 2022, Merve won a bronze medal in the 800m freestyle, and most recently made her country proud by winning the gold medal in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle in the World Junior Swimming Championships 2022, held between August 30 to September 4 in Peru. Merve also won the bronze medal in the 4x200 relay race during the championship.