The bronze medal was won by Turkmen judoist Hekim Agamammedov at the Open European Championship in Sofia, held in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
The two-day tournament brought together 396 athletes (274 men and 122 women) from 43 countries who competed for 14 sets of medals in 7 men's and 7 women's weight categories.
Turkmenistan was represented by a large team, which included 16 judoists (12 men and 4 women).
Hekim Agamammedov performed best of all in our team, becoming a bronze medalist in the weight category up to 66 kg, in which 54 judoists from 21 countries competed for medals. On the way to this success, a 24-year-old candidate for master of sports, a serviceman of military unit № 1001 named after Myalikguly Berdimuhamedov of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, won four confident victories.
In the first two fights, Hekim won cleanly against Dastan Shayahmetov (Kazakhstan) and Carlos Sotillo Gomez (Spain). Then, in the quarterfinals, due to two scores, «Vasari» lost to the 24-year-old two-time bronze medalist of the European Cup 2022 in Malaga and Riga, Luca Caggiano (Italy).
In the consolation tournament for bronze, our compatriot, with the help of two «Vasari», first defeated the Bulgarian Boyan Yotov, and then defeated Charlie Young (Great Britain) in the fight for 3rd place. Another bronze medal went to Artyom Galachyan (Armenia). The winner of the tournament was the 20-year-old Ukrainian Nikita Goloborodko, who took the upper hand in the final fight thanks to two «Vasari» over Gumar Kyrgyzbayev from Kazakhstan.
In September 2022, Hekim Agamammedov won a gold medal at the Open European Championships in the Austrian Oberwart in the weight category up to 66 kg, in which 32 judoists competed, including 4 from Turkmenistan.
Prior to this, the best results of H. Agamammedov were the 5th place at the 2019 Asian-Ocean Championship among juniors in Taiwan and the 3rd place at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games-2022 in Konya, Turkey.
Hekim Agamammedov started judo wrestling in the city of Turkmenbashy with his first coach Rashid Huseynov. Currently, he is improving his sportsmanship under the guidance of the head coach of the national team Gahryman Amandurdyyev and Sahed Annagulyyev.
The next serious test for Turkmen judoists will be another open European championship, which will be held in Warsaw (Poland) on February 25-26, 2023. It is expected that 462 athletes (270 men and 192 women) from 44 countries on five continents will take part in the upcoming tournament.
Turkmenistan announced 13 judoists. The men's team included: Aybek Omirov, Hakberdi Jumayev (both in the weight category up to 60 kg), Hekim Agamammedov, Serdar Rahymov (both up to 66 kg), Parahat Nazarov, Begench Soltanov (both up to 73 kg), Shatlyk Seyitmyradov (up to 81 kg), Mammetali Achyldyyev (up to 90 kg) and Baymyrat Majanov (up to 100 kg), and in the women's - Aksoltan Hojageldiyeva, Gurbanay Gurbanova (both - up to 48 kg), Maysa Pardayeva (up to 57 kg) and Zulhumar Dashkinova (up to 63 kg).
