Seven medals were won by Turkmen athletes at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games taking place in the Turkish city of Konya.
The first three bronze medals - in the snatch, clean and jerk and combined total - were brought to the Turkmen team by 24-year-old Yulduz Dzhumabayeva, who was recognized by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) as the winner of the 2018 Women's World Championship in the weight category up to 45 kg in January last year.
Initially, gold in this weight was won by Tunya Sukcharoen from Thailand. Later, the Thai athlete was disqualified and stripped of her medal for an anti-doping rule violation, which became known after rechecking the samples of athletes who competed at the 2018 World Cup in Ashgabat. As a result, Yulduz moved from second to first place.
Speaking in Konya in the Olympic weight category up to 49 kg, Yu. Dzhumabayeva gained 167 kg in the sum of two exercises (snatch - 74 kg, clean and jerk - 93 kg) - 12 kg less than at the 2018 World Championships in Ashgabat and took as a result 3rd place. In the final protocol, the 2018 World Champion lost 5 kg to the winner of the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games Duygu Alyci (Turkey) - 172 kg (78 + 94) and 3 kg to the silver medalist Shazie Erdogan (Turkey) - 170 kg (77 + 93).
At the previous Islamic Solidarity Games, which were held in Baku in 2017, Yulduz took fourth place with a score of 163 kg (71 + 92).
At present, Yu. Jumabayeva combines weightlifting with the work of a coach at the 1st sports school of the Gurbansoltan eje etrap of the Dashoguz velayat.
The next set of awards of the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in weightlifting was played by women in the weight category up to 55 kg, in which our country was represented by the vice world champion of 2017 in Anaheim (USA) Kristina Shermetova.
Umurbek Bazarbayev, a 29-year-old student of four Olympic Games participant, won a small gold medal in the snatch with a score of 89 kg. After this exercise, our athlete was 5 kg ahead of the second Natasya Beteyob from Indonesia. However, in the clean and jerk, Christina lost 6 kg to her opponent in a tactical fight, showing the second result - 105 kg. As a result, K. Shermetova gained 194 kg in the biathlon - 16 kg less than her best result shown at the 2018 World Championships in Ashgabat, and was content with a silver medal.
Having outstripped our weightlifter by only 1 kg, Natasya Beteyob (Indonesia) became the champion of the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games - 195 kg (84 +111). The top three winners were closed by Poupak Basami (Iran) - 165 kg (71 + 94).
Greco-Roman wrestler Azatjan Achilov brought the seventh medal - bronze - to the team of Turkmenistan. The ward of the famous former world vice-champion Nepes Gukulov achieved this success in the weight category up to 63 kg.
In the fight for bronze, Azatzhan Achilov defeated Jebbari Abdeljebar from Algeria.
Shirzad Beheshtital (Iran) became the champion of the Games in this weight category. Silver went to Tynar Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan). The second bronze medal was won by Firuz Mirzorajabov (Tajikistan).
The 5th Islamic Solidarity Games, during which more than 4,000 athletes from 56 countries compete for 483 sets of medals in 24 sports, will last until August 18. Turkmenistan is represented at competitions by 80 athletes who compete in athletics, archery, 3x3 basketball, judo, karate-do, kickboxing, weightlifting, wrestling (Greco-Roman and freestyle) and swimming.
