Turkmen athletes won three bronze and one gold medals at the Asian Wrestling Championship among cadets (under 17) and youth (under 23), which ended in Bishkek.
The first awards of the continental championship were played by cadets. Turkmenistan won two bronze medals in freestyle wrestling, in which 99 athletes from 13 countries competed in ten weight categories.
Alp Arslan Begenjov, a 10th-grade student of the capital's Young Olympians Boarding School, was the first to achieve this success. In the first fight, Alp Arslan won against Adilet Akylbekov (Kyrgyzstan) - 13:8, in weight category up to 71 kg, in which 11 wrestlers acted. In the quarterfinal, he defeated Asadbek Faizullayev (Uzbekistan) 10-0.
In the semi-finals, A. Begenjov lost to the future winner Seidabolfazl Seid Ayub Hosseini (Iran) - 0:10, and in the fight for the 3rd place he beat Bilgundalai Purevdagwa (Mongolia) - 10:0 and got the bronze medal. Narender Narender (India) won the second bronze medal in this weight class. Silver went to Nurdaulet Seilbekov (Kazakhstan), who lost in the final to the Asian champion from Iran.
Alp Arslan Begenjov, a candidate master of sports, who will turn 16 on August 8, has started freestyle wrestling at the section of Berdy Atabayev, the current head coach of the cadet team of Turkmenistan. Nowadays, he is improving his skills under the guidance of Batyr Orazgylyjov, the silver medalist of the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. And very successfully.
Prior to that A. Begenjov twice won the international tournament "Constantin Alexandru & Ioan W. Popovici" among cadets under 17 in Romania in 2022 and 2023. Last year he won the gold medal in the weight category up to 65 kg. And now he has become a bronze medalist, but in a different weight up to 71 kg.
Dovletgeldy Muradov, a 10th grade student of the capital's Young Olympians Boarding School brought the second bronze medal for Turkmenistan's freestyle wrestling team. In the quarterfinal, Dovletgeldy lost to the future champion Abolfazl Yaser Rahmani Firuzjai (Iran) with the score of 0:4 in weight category up to 80 kg, in which 11 sportsmen participated. However, after that he brilliantly fought two consolation bouts for the bronze, winning 4:3 against Byambadorj Enkhbat (Mongolia) and 5:0 against Nurassil Yerassil (Kazakhstan) in the fight for the third place. The second bronze medal in this weight was awarded to Hauyu Qiang (China). Saurabh Yadav (India) took the second step of the podium, and the highest step was taken by the representative of Iran.
Dovletgeldy Muradov, who will turn 17 on July 14, is engaged in freestyle wrestling at Galkynysh Physical Culture and Sport Complex in Ashgabat under the guidance of Berdy Atabaev, head coach of Turkmenistan's cadet team. Last month, he took second place at the international tournament "Constantin Alexandru & Ioan W. Popovici" among cadets under 17 in Bucharest. And now he has become the bronze medalist of the Asian Championship (U 17).
Another medal, this time gold one, was won by our freestyle wrestlers at the Asian Youth Championships (U23), where 71 athletes from 12 countries competed in ten weight categories.
The master of sports of international class Ziyamukhammet Saparov climbed to the top of the podium in the 125 kg weight category, where eight athletes competed for the title of the strongest. On the way to this success, the 23-year-old, 5th year student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports won the quarterfinals against Munhbayar Tsogtbayar (Mongolia) 6-4, the semifinals against Bali Sow from Cambodia and the final against Abylay Sovet from Kazakhstan. The Cambodian Bali Sow and Namoz Abdurashidov from Uzbekistan became bronze medalists in this weight category.
Ziyamukhammet Saparov is a multiple champion of Turkmenistan. In 2016, he excelled among cadets at the Children of Asia Games in Yakutsk. Last year, he became a silver medalist at the Asian Championship (U23) in Bishkek. And now he has won an award of the highest standard. His mentor, Yusup Melejaev, head coach of Turkmenistan's national freestyle wrestling team, rightfully shares Ziyamukhammet's current success.
Our compatriots won another bronze medal in the Asian Youth Championship (U23) in Greco–Roman wrestling, in which 60 athletes from 11 countries competed for awards in ten weight categories.
Aibegshazada Kurrayev, 22-year-old candidate master of sports, climbed onto the third step of the podium in the weight category up to 130 kg, where 6 athletes fought for the title of the strongest. On the way to this success, the fourth-year student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Education and Sport had four fights.
In the first fight, Aibegshazada beat Asrorbek Anvarjonov (Uzbekistan) 6:3, in the second he beat Parvesh Parvesh (India) 8:1. In the semi-finals A.Kurrayev lost to Jokhar Uzarov (Kazakhstan) - 6:11, then in the fight for the third place he met again with Asrorbek Anvarjonov from Uzbekistan. The second meeting of the rivals ended with score 4:0 also in favor of the wrestler from Turkmenistan. Wenhao Qiang from China was the champion in this weight category and Jokhar Uzarov from Kazakhstan was the silver medalist.
This is the first success in international competitions of current champion of Turkmenistan Aibegshazada Kurrayev. He started Greco-Roman wrestling in Mary with his father Yagshimyrat Kurrayev, coach of the 4th sports school of the city of Mary. At present time he is perfecting his skills at Galkynysh wrestling complex under the guidance of Nepes Gukulov, chief coach of Turkmenistan's national Greco-Roman wrestling team, silver medalist of 2002 World Championship in Moscow, participant of Olympic Games-2000 in Sydney, bronze medalist of 1997 West Asian Games in Tehran, vice-champion of Central Asian Games-1999 in Bishkek.
The future plans of the Turkmen masters of wrestling include preparation for the upcoming World Championship in Belgrade in September, where the first tickets to the Olympic Games–2024 in Paris will be played.
