The team of Turkmenistan took part in the opening ceremony of the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games, which took place in the Turkish city of Konya at the Buyuksehir Municipal Stadium, which seats 42,000 spectators.
This complex international competition, held every four years under the auspices of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF), headquartered in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), brings together athletes from 57 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) with a population of about 1.5 billion people.
The first Islamic Solidarity Games were held in Saudi Arabia in 2005. The second Games were to be held in April 2009 in Iran, then were postponed to 2010 and then cancelled. The third Islamiad was held in 2013 in the Indonesian city of Palembang, and the fourth in 2017 in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku.
The V Games of Islamic Solidarity, which is hosted by the Turkish city of Konya, which is considered one of the important centers of Islamic civilization, were supposed to take place in 2021, but due to the pandemic, they were postponed for a year.
The opening ceremony of the Games, which aims to develop solidarity as the unifying force of sport, began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran.
After the raising of the Turkish flag, a parade of volunteers and teams participating in the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games took place.
The teams entered the stadium in alphabetical order according to the capital letters of the country names.
The delegation of Turkmenistan, which included 120 people, including 80 athletes, was met with universal applause. The flag of our country at the opening ceremony was carried by the bronze medalist of the III Islamic Solidarity Games-2013 in the competition of weightlifters in the weight category over 105 kg Hojamuhammet Toychiev.
After hoisting the ISSF flag and taking the oath of athletes and judges, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games open.
During the opening ceremony of the Games, a presentation of 24 sports was held, in which more than 4,000 athletes from 56 countries will compete for 483 sets of medals.
Turkmen athletes will compete in athletics, archery, 3x3 basketball, judo, karate-do, kickboxing, weightlifting, wrestling (Greco-Roman and freestyle) and swimming.
At the first Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia, where athletes from 55 countries competed for medals in 14 sports, Turkmen athletes competed in seven types of the program - athletics, fencing, table and tennis, taekwondo (WTF), men's volleyball and weightlifting. And only weightlifters returned home with medals: Umurbek Bazarbaev (weight category up to 62 kg) - with a silver medal, and Maksut Rejepov (up to 77 kg) - with a bronze medal.
The III Games in Palembang (Indonesia) were attended by athletes from over 40 countries who competed in 13 sports. Turkmenistan was represented in three - volleyball, weightlifting and wushu. And it is very gratifying that in two of them our compatriots won a total of four bronze medals. This success was achieved by weightlifters Jasurbek Dzhumaev (weight category up to 94 kg) and Khodjamuhammet Toychiev (over 105 kg), as well as wushu sanda masters Shokhrat Orazgeldiyev (up to 52 kg) and Gochmurad Dzhumaniyzov (up to 65 kg).
At the previous Games of Islamic Solidarity in Baku (Azerbaijan), whose awards in 20 sports were contested by more than 3,000 athletes from 57 countries, Turkmen athletes, performing in 12 types of the program - volleyball (men), boxing, tennis, weightlifting, judo, wrestling (Greco-Roman and freestyle), swimming, 3x3 basketball, athletics, taekwondo (WTF), wushu and karate-do, won 13 medals (two gold, four silver, seven bronze), which ensured them 15th place in the team standings.
The 5th Islamic Solidarity Games will last until August 18.
