A boxer from Ashgabat Aliasker Bashirov is the first Turkmen sportsman to win a berth to the XXIX Summer Olympic Games which will be held in Beijing, China on August 8-24.

According to the State Committee for Tourism and Sport of Turkmenistan, the remarkable; event took place at the Asia Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan will take part in the 2008 Olympic Games. The winners of the tournament will participate in the 2008 Olympic Games.

95 boxers from 22 countries competed for the right to participate in the prestige international tournament.

A Turkmen boxer Aliasker Bashirov (under-69-kg weight category), who had won several national and Asian championships defeated Dovran Khabirov (Kyrgyz Republic) in the first round, Biamb Tovshinbata (Mongolia) in the semifinal and Dilbag Sing (India) in the final and won the gold medal and the right to take part in the 2008 Olympic Games.

The 28-year-old International Master of Sports Aliasker Bashirov started to go in for boxing 20 years ago. His first coach at the Fighting Gloves Club was Honoured Coach of Turkmenistan Aleksey Kalinin. Now Aliasker masters the technique under the supervision of Chairman of the National Boxing Centre Honoured Coach of Turkmenistan Shokhrat Kurbanov and trains the young boxers at the Ashgabat Martial Arts School.

The twice silver-medal winner of the Central Asian Games in Bishkek and Dushanbe, the champion and prize-winner of various international tournaments A. Bashirov will take part in the Olympic Games for the second time. He gained the upper hand over Rolandos Yasevichyus from Lithuania in the start fighting, though in the semifinal he lost the points to the champion Bahtiyar Artaev from Kazakhstan.

Within the next two months the judokas, the Graeco-Roman wrestlers, the freestyle wrestlers, the bullet shooters and the weightlifters will compete for a berth to the Olympic Games.