11 medals - one gold, two silver and eight bronze - were won by Turkmen sambo wrestlers at the Asian Open Cup that ended in Aktau (Kazakhstan).

The competitions were held at the «Mangistau Arena» stadium, bringing together more than 200 athletes from 9 countries who identified the strongest in 7 weight categories among men and women in sports and combat sambo.

Aylar Melikova, coach of the 7th sports school of the Main Department of Sports and Youth Policy of Ashgabat, was awarded the highest standard in the national team of Turkmenistan, having excelled in combat sambo in the weight category up to 50 kg. This success is shared by her coaches - Nurmyrat Babayev and Nury Tekayev.

The coach of the 2nd sports school of the Main Department of Sports and Youth Policy of the Lebap velayat from the Farap etrap Begench Baltayev achieved double success at the Asian Open Cup, having won two silver medals in sports sambo in the category up to 79 kg and combat sambo in the weight up to 88 kg.

Annageldi Annasahedov (up to 88 kg) also brought two awards, but bronze, to the team of Turkmenistan, becoming a winner in sports and combat sambo.

Two more bronze medals in sports sambo competitions were won by Nazar Lollekov (over 98 kg) and a 4th year student of the Faculty of Chemistry of the Turkmen State University named after Magtymguly Muhammetmyrat Babekov (up to 58 kg). For the latter, this year has been a very successful one. At the Asian Championships held in June in the Lebanese city of Jounieh, he became a bronze medalist, and in September he won the World Cup in martial arts among students, which was held under the auspices of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in Samsun, Turkey.

The silver medalist of the 2022 World Cup in martial arts among students in the weight up to 71 kg and the champion of Asia-2018 Sapar Dovletov won bronze in combat sambo competitions in the category up to 79 kg at the Asian Open Cup in Aktau. The same success in combat sambo was achieved by: Yusup Tanryberdiyev (up to 58 kg), David Avchyan (up to 71 kg) and Veronika Rus (up to 54 kg).

Muhammetmyrat Babekov, Sapar Dovletov, Annageldi Annasahedov and Nazar Lollekov are pupils of the sports club «Galkan» of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan. A great contribution to their development as athletes was made by coaches Nuryagdy Mamedov, Batyr Sariyev and Nurhoja Talmanov. Another pupil of SC «Galkan» David Avchyan trains with Mergen Hojamuhamedov.

The Turkmenistan team was preparing for the Asian Open Cup under the guidance of the head coaches of the men's and women's national teams in sports sambo Yanar Hojamuhamedov, Nurmyrat Annamuhamedov, and in combat sambo - Shohrat Annamuhamedov.