A new bright chapter in the history of Turkmen sports was written by 26-year-old Master of Sports Muminjan Arzykulov from Lebap velayat, who won a gold medal at the 49th World Sambo Championships in Astana.
The major three-day tournament in Kazakhstan, with a prize fund of $311,000, gathered around 470 athletes from 80 countries, who competed for 31 sets of medals in sport and combat sambo among men and women, as well as sambo for blind men in the SVI-1 class (totally blind athletes).
Muminjan Arzykulov became the world champion in combat sambo in the weight category up to 71 kg, where 24 athletes competed for medals. On his path to success, he achieved five victories. In the first round, Muminjan won by quality with a score of 4:4 against Andrey Kucherenko (Ukraine), champion of the Europe-2024 and winner of the World Cup-2024 in Yerevan, crushed Sherbek Khujamkulov (Uzbekistan) 11:1 in the 1/8 finals, and delivered a significant defeat to Stefan Zuparic (Serbia), champion of the Europe-2022 and World Vice-Champion-2023 5:1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Muminjan defeated World Championship bronze medalist-2024 Zamirbek Uulu Kurmanbek (Kyrgyzstan) 3:1, and confidently beat Rolan Zinnatov, competing under the flag of the International Sambo Federation (FIAS), Russian Champion-2024 and European Champion-2023, 5:0 in the final.
Notably, two years ago at the 47th World Championship in Bishkek, the title of world champion in men's sport sambo was won in the weight category up to 64 kg by Master of Sports from Ashgabat Mukhammet Kossekov. Now, another representative of Turkmenistan has achieved similar success but in combat sambo.
Muminjan Arzykulov has been practicing sambo wrestling for over ten years. Previously, he specialized in sport sambo, where he won a bronze medal at last year's World Cup in Kyrgyzstan. At this year's World Championships in Kazakhstan, he debuted in combat sambo and became a world champion on his first attempt. M. Arzykulov actively combines sports with his work as a sambo coach at the 5th sports school in Garlyk village, Koytendag etrap of Lebap velayat.
