A Turkmen athlete Tolkunbek Khudaybergenov ranks among seven best weightlifters in the under-62 kg category of the ХХIХ Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

17 weightlifters from 15 countries competed for the medals in this sporting event. It should be noted that the Turkmen sportsmen Tolkunbek Khudaybergenov and Umurbek Bazarbaev were split in strongest Group A, in which the sportsmen competed for the medals in a close contest.

After the first exercise – the snatch Tolkunbek gained the result of 126 kg and ranked among ten best sportsmen. In the first attempt T. Khubaybergenov lifted 162 kg. Then to rank among four strongest weightlifters our sportsmen lifted 170 kg and beat the national record of 163 kg. The weight was not lifted though. In the final, Tolkunbek with the total result of 288 kg ranked the 7th and improved the result he had gained at the Asia Championship in Japan by 4 kg.

Honoured Coach of Turkmenistan Ikram Matkarimov (chief coach of the national team) and Honoured Coach of Turkmenistan Artur Emirian (Chairman of the National Weightlifting Centre) had brought our sportsmen to the victory.

Umurbek Bazarbaev, who ranked the 7th at the Athens Olympic Games four years ago and the 5th at the World Championship in Thailand, lifted 133 kg in the snatch and ranked the 6th though failed to lift 160 kg in the jerk.