About 4,000 athletes from 48 countries and regions including Turkmenistan compete for 472 kits of the medals of the Beijing XIII Paralympics.

22-year-old Mayagozel Pekieva from Ashgabat was the first among the Turkmen athletes to compete in the weightlifting tournament. The debutant of the Olympic Games, the youngest sportswoman in the under-56 kg category ranked among the best seven athletes.

In the first attempt in the bench press the sportswoman of the National Paralympics Committee of Turkmenistan lifted 75 kg. In the final, third attempt M. Pekieva lifted 82.5 kg. Her result was as higher as 12.5 kg to 47-year-old M. Bartosova from Slovakia who ranked the eighth and equal to that of 32-year-old Lin Ya-Xuan from Taiwan who ranked the sixth because of the lighter weight.

The athletes of the Turkmen Paralympics team – 21-year-old Valentina Simakova (under 75 kg) from Ashgabat and 39-year-old sportsman from the Mary Disabled Athletic and Sport Club Ovezgeldy Orjiev (under 75 kg) will compete for the medals of the Beijing XIII Paralympics. V. Simakova will compete in the heavier category including the athletes from 7 countries.