Kurash masters from Turkmenistan won their third medal at the XIX Summer Asian Games in Hangzhou. Ishanmyrat Atayev brought a bronze medal to the team on the final day of the competition in this type of wrestling. He achieved this success in the weight category up to 90 kg, in which 9 participants competed for medals.

In the first match, which turned out to be the quarterfinals, Ishanmyrat beat Min Kwan Bui (Vietnam), a 31-year-old bronze medalist of the Asian Championship–2022 in Dushanbe in the weight category up to 81 kg, with the score of 5:0.

In the semifinals, our compatriot faced a strong Iranian wrestler Sadegh Azarang, with whom Ishanmyrat had previously met twice this year at the Asian Test Championship and the World Series Pro Qualifier in Hangzhou. And both times Sadegh Azarang celebrated the victory due to one remark.

Fortune did not change the Iranian this time either. With clean wins in the semifinals and the final over 41-year-old Mingyu Kim (Republic of Korea), Sadegh Azarang won the fourth gold for the Iranian team, represented at the Asian Games by 289 athletes in 34 disciplines. The silver went to Mingyu Kim. And two bronze medals were awarded to Khaknazar Nazarov (Tajikistan) and Ishanmyrat Atayev.

For Ishanmyrat Atayev, who will turn 27 on November 30, this was only the fifth international competition in 2 years of kurash wrestling. Last year, he took third place at the IV World Nomad Games in Iznik, Turkey, and was without medal at the World Championships in Pune, India. He became the bronze medalist at the 2023 Asian Test Championship and the World Series Pro Qualifier in Hangzhou. In addition, this year Ishanmyrat tried himself in the Kazakh Kuresi Wrestling, taking 3^rd place at the Asian Championship in Jizzakh.

It is noteworthy that for a number of years Ishanmyrat successfully combined active sports with work as a physical education teacher at Ashgabat Secondary School № 55. And recently he was hired as a methodologist in the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports of Arkadag city.

Despite winning the bronze medal, I. Atayev was very upset by his defeat in the semifinals against the Iranian.

"I really wanted to win gold and raise the sports prestige of our country even higher," Ishanmyrat Atayev told the special correspondent of "GA" at the Asian Games in Hangzhou after the competition.

At the press conference held after the award ceremony, Ishanmyrat promised to take revenge on the Iranian at the upcoming World Championship on November 23-28 in Ashgabat.

So, the kurash wrestling competitions in the program of the XIX Summer Asian Games have been completed. And they ended with the third raising of the State Flag of Turkmenistan during the three-day tournament at the Xiaoshan Lingpu Gymnasium. Previously, the silver medal in our team was won by Tejen Tejenov (over 90 kg), and the bronze medal was won by Ainur Amanova (up to 52 kg).

Over the past five years, the Turkmen kurash masters have made a noticeable step forward. If we had no medals in this sport at the previous Asian Games in Indonesia,now three of the six athletes will return to their homeland with the medals of the Asian Games.

According to experts, this is the result of the fruitful work of coaches Dortkuli Tejenov and Shirin Kubayeva. The first one headed the men's national team of Turkmenistan just two years ago, and the second one has been leading the women's national team of the country for many years, having created a good kurash wrestling school in Lebap velayat.

Shirin Kubayeva is a famous athlete in the past. For many years, she successfully defended the honor of the country on the world sports arena, became the winner and prize-winner of many international competitions.

It is noteworthy that in 1997 she successfully graduated from the Turkmen Institute of National Economy with a degree in international economics. For a number of years, Shirin Kubayeva combined coaching with work in organizations in the economic sphere. And only after winning the 2009 Asian Martial Arts Games in Bangkok, Thailand, she finally decided to focus only on coaching.

"I love working as a coach. Sport is in my genes," says Sh.Kubaeva, whose father and great-grandfather were engaged in goresh wrestling, won many prizes among the palvans at weddings.

According to Shirin Kubayeva, her ward Ainur Amanova, a bronze medalist of the XIX Summer Asian Games, whose grandfathers and great–grandfathers also wrestled at weddings for many years, has the same genes.

"So all our successes are not for nothing," Shirin Kubayeva revealed the secret of victories.

By the way, in Hangzhou, on the final day of the tournament at the Asian Games, Ainur Amanova received a gold medal from the organizers of the World Championship and the 2019 World Martial Arts Games in Chunju (Republic of Korea), which she was awarded after disqualification due to violation of anti-doping rules of the former winner of these competitions G.Suleymanova from Uzbekistan. So A.Amanova will return to Ashgabat with two medals.

After returning from China to their homeland, the Turkmen kurash masters will begin intensive preparations for the home World Championship, where, hopefully, they will perform even better.