The team of Turkmenistan went to Bogota in transit through Istanbul for the World Weightlifting Championship, which will be held from December 5 to 16 in the capital of Colombia. This will be the 87th tournament for men and the 30th anniversary for women.
Initially, the World Cup was planned to be held in Chongqing, China, but in March 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, China canceled the competition. The new location was announced by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on 23 April 2022.
As the correspondent of «GA» was informed in the National Weightlifting Federation, the Turkmen delegation included 11 people, including 7 athletes.
In the men's part of the competition, Turkmenistan will be represented by 6 athletes: Bunyad Rashidov (weight category up to 67 kg), Maksat Meredov (up to 73 kg), vice-world champion 2017 Rejepbay Rejepov (up to 81 kg), Shatlyk Shohradov, Shahzadbek Matyakubov (both - up to 89 kg) and Davranbek Hasanbayev (up to 102 kg).
As part of the women's team, the 16-year-old vice-champion of Asia among girls (under 17 years old) and juniors (under 20 years old) Anamjan Rustamova (up to 81 kg) will enter the Colombian platform. For her, this will be her debut at the adult world championship.
The upcoming World Championships in Bogota will be the first qualifying event for weightlifters for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. It is expected that 695 athletes (359 men and 336 women) from over 110 countries will take part in it, with the exception of Russia and Belarus, whose membership was suspended by the IWF in March 2022. In October 2022, the DPRK was also excluded from the World Cup. And on November 24, weightlifters from Pakistan and Malaysia withdrew from the 2022 World Cup.