Seventeen-year-old Ashgabat native Shaapbas Esgerov won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling at the Asian U17 Championships held in Da Nang, Vietnam. The 11th-grade student of the Olymp Secondary School achieved this success in the 80 kg weight category, where 15 wrestlers competed for the title.
In his opening bout, Esgerov narrowly lost by a single point to 15-year-old Mandeep Mandeep of India, the silver medalist of the U17 Asian Championships 2026 and the Asian U15 2024 vice-champion in the 68 kg category, with a score of 5–6. He then confidently defeated Hsing Yu Wang of Chinese Taipei 8–0 in the repechage round. In the bronze-medal match, Esgerov overcame 16-year-old Yusei Nagata of Japan, a bronze medalist at the Asian U15 Championships 2024, by 9–3, securing a place on the third step of the podium. The second bronze medal in the weight category went to Adilbek Yerbolatov of Kazakhstan, who defeated Nasim Khojaev of Tajikistan 12–1. The U17 Asian title was won by 16-year-old Amirali Mohammad Ferasati of Iran, who defeated India's Mandeep Mandeep 10–0 in the final.
At these U17 Asian Championships, Turkmenistan was represented by 10 athletes—six freestyle wrestlers and four Greco-Roman wrestlers. It was particularly encouraging that one of them succeeded in reaching the podium.
This was the first international success for Shaapbas Esgerov, who trains under Batyr Orazgylyjov, the 2010 Asian U17 freestyle wrestling silver medalist and the silver medalist of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (2017). His student’s bronze medal became the first medal won by a Turkmen freestyle wrestler at the U17 Asian Championships in the last three years.
Taking into account the disappointing performances of Turkmen freestyle wrestlers at the previous two continental championships in this age category, the leadership of the Wrestling Federation of Turkmenistan appointed Batyr Orazgylyjov as head coach of the national U17 freestyle wrestling team in January 2026. Prior to that, he had worked very successfully with the national U20 team. It should be recalled that under the guidance of this young specialist, who turned 33 years old on June 9, talented wrestler Alp Arslan Begenjov became a medalist at numerous international competitions and, in 2024, won Turkmenistan’s first-ever gold medals at the Asian and World U20 Championships, held in Thailand and Spain, respectively.
After just five months as head coach of the U17 national team, Batyr Orazgylyjov brought a highly competitive squad of six freestyle wrestlers to the Asian Championships. One of them won a bronze medal, while four others—Hemra Halmyradov (45 kg), Meret Durdyev (48 kg), Isgender Hudayberdiyev (51 kg), and Mekan Hudayberenov (71 kg)—finished just one step away from the podium after losing their bronze-medal matches.
As a result, Shaapbas Esgerov’s bronze medal became the fifth medal won by the Turkmen team at the U23 and U17 Asian Wrestling Championships in Da Nang. Earlier, at the Asian U23 Championships, Turkmen wrestlers captured four medals—one gold and three bronze—all in freestyle wrestling. Nineteen-year-old International Master of Sports Alp Arslan Begenjov from Ashgabat won Turkmenistan’s first-ever Asian U23 title in the 86 kg category. The bronze medals were earned by: Azatberdi Ashyrgulyev (61 kg), aged 18; Soltan Sanjar Begenjov (79 kg), aged 21; Dovletgeldi Myradov (92 kg), aged 19.
Last year, at the U23 and U17 Asian Wrestling Championships held in Vung Tau, Vietnam, Turkmen athletes also won five medals. Four of them—one silver and three bronze—came at the U23 Championships. Alp Arslan Begenjov earned silver in the 79 kg category, while the bronze medalists were: Watan Annaorazov (74 kg) and Soltan Sanjar Begenjov (86 kg) in freestyle wrestling; Didar Orazberdiyev (72 kg) in Greco-Roman wrestling. The fifth medal, also bronze, was won by 16-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler Aslan Agadadayev, who placed third at the U17 Asian Championships in the 110 kg weight category.
