Kocaeli Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kağıt Spor Kulübü

The Kocaeli Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kağıt Spor Kulübü, aka Kocaeli BB Kağıtspor, is a multi-sports club sponsored by the Metropolitan Municipality of Kocaeli in Turkey. It was originally founded in 1937 as "İzmit Kağıtspor", a sports club of the state-owned SEKA Cellulose and Paper Works in Izmit, Kocaeli. [cite web |url=http://www.evrensel.net/05/01/25/kose.html |title=Kent Yazıları - Yönet, batır, kapat... |Work=Evrensel |author=Necati Uyar |date=2005-01-25 |language=Turkish ] Club colors are blue and white. Current club president is Fahrettin Kandemir, who is also the chairman of the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation.cite newspaper |url=http://www.zaman.com.tr//haber.do?haberno=597009 |title=Kocaeli Büyükşehir Belediyesi'nin kulübü Kağıtspor, 'sporcu fabrikası' gibi çalışıyor |publisher=Zaman |date=2007-10-05 |language=Turkish ]

Already in the beginning, İzmit Kağıtspor operated also branches like rowing and sailing and won also many international titles in athletics, sport wrestling and boxing. [cite web |url=http://www.tumgazeteler.com/?a=732717 |title=Bir tarih kapanıyor: SEKA |Work=Tüm Gazeteler |author=Timur Soykan |language=Turkish ] Merged in 1987 into "Kocaeli Belediyespor" and renamed, the club expanded fast since then and is active in 30 sports branches with a total of 2,453 athletes as of 2007, making it one of the biggest sports clubs of Turkey. Its amateur and professional individual sports people and teams of various branches are very successful at domestic and international events as well. The total number of sports people licensed by the club competing for Turkey's national teams amounted to 155 in 2007. The 2007-2008 budget of the club is TRY 2.2m (about US$ 1.76m). Current club president is Fahrettin Kandemir, who is also the chairman of the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation.

Branches

Some of the 30 branches the club sponsors are:

* Athletics (track and field) (men's, women'scite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=17518 |title=Kağıtsporlu Hülya, Dünya İkincisi Oldu |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-09-19 |language=Turkish ] )
* Basketball (men's, women's)
* Boxing
* Fencing
* Figure skatingcite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=12383 |title=Tuğba, Avrupa'da Gururumuz Oldu |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-01-29 |language=Turkish ] [cite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=14365 |title=Buz Sporunda Artık Türkler de Var |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-04-30 |language=Turkish ]
* Football
* Ice hockey (menscite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=15816 |title=Buz Hokeyinde Avrupa Sınavı Eylülde |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-07-05 |language=Turkish ] , women's)multicol-break

* Judo
* Karate (men'scite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=15305 |title=Büyükşehir Kağıt Karatede Avrupa Şampiyonu Oldu |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-06-11 |language=Turkish ] , women'scite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=19926 |title=Tuba Yenen de Avrupa Şampiyonu |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2008-02-20 |language=Turkish ] cite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=19858 |title=Büyükşehir’e Altın Madalya |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2008-02-17 |language=Turkish ] )
* Skeet and trap [cite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=14506 |title=12’den Vurmak İçin Yarıştılar |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-05-07 |language=Turkish ]
* Volleyball (men's, women's)
* Weightlifting (men's. women'scite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=17102 |title=Yanık, İtalya’dan 3 Altın ile Döndü |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-09-01 |language=Turkish ] cite newspaper |url=http://www.ozgurkocaeli.com.tr/news.php?id=14143 |title=Şimşek, Avrupa 2’ncisi Oldu |publisher=Özgür Kocaeli |date=2007-04-20 |language=Turkish ] )
* Wrestling

Notables

; Individuals:
* Hülya Baştuğ - world-class female mountain runner (2007)
* Hüsniye Gürel - 2008 European female youth karate champion
* Tuğba Karademir - ever first Turkish Olympic female figure skater (2006)
* Sibel Şimşek - 2007 European silver medalist in women's weightlifting
* Gülnaz Yanık - 2007 European female junior weightlifting champion
* Tuba Yenen - 2008 European female youth karate champion; Teams:
* Ice hockey men's team - 2007 Turkish Ice Hockey Super League champion
* Karate men's team - 2007 European champion

References