A high, round kick to the head of Morocco's Nada Laraaj turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 winning margin for the 26-year-old Turkish fighter whose career was gathering huge momentum up to the point where competition had to be held up because of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

The following year, she was under-57 kg bronze medallist at the European Under-21 Championships in Chișinău and senior titles soon followed in the Turkish, Ukraine and Moldova Open events.

In 2017, she took another significant step-up as she won under-57 kg silver at the World Championships in Muju, losing 7-5 to South Korea's Lee Ah-reum, who had beaten Britain's Olympic champion Jade Jones in the semi-final.

Turkey awards successful European, World or Olympic medal-winning athletes with monetary compensation and post-career coaching positions.

[5] She won one of the bronze medals in the women's featherweight event at the 2022 World Taekwondo Championships held in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Ilgün, who defeated Poland's Patrycja Adamkiewicz in the quarterfinals, lost to Taiwan's Lo Chia-ling in the semifinals and became the third in the world and won a bronze medal.