Turkmen boxers have won their first victory at the ongoing XI Summer Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Bairamdurdy Nurmuhammedov, a student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, achieved this success.
B.Nurmuhammedov had no problems in the opening fight against Davud Mahkamov from Tajikistan, a participant of the 2023 World Championship in Tashkent, in the weight category up to 71 kg, in which 23 boxers are fighting for medals. The advantage of our compatriot was already indicated in the first round, in which all five judges gave preference to our athlete.
In the second round, only one referee – Ferreira Valentin Emanuel from Puerto Rico - gave the advantage to the Tajik boxer. And in the third round, the judges were unanimous again, giving the victory to the Turkmen boxer. As a result, B.Nurmuhammedov won 5-0 and advanced to the next round of the competition, where he will meet 19-year-old Nidal Focahaa from Palestine, who took 9th place at the 2023 World Championship in Tashkent.
Bayramdurdy Nurmukhammedov, a 21-year–old native of the city of Magtymguly in Balkan velayat, is a debutant of the Asian Games. He reached the quarterfinals at last year's Asian Championship in Amman, Jordan, and he won the first two fights, and in the fight for reaching the quarterfinals he lost to the representative of Russia and took 9th place at the last World Championship, which was held this year in Tashkent.
Boxing, as a sport, was included in the program of the Asian Games in 1954. At the current tournament in the Asian Games program, which is held at the Hangzhou Gymnasium, boxers will compete for 13 sets of awards.
Turkmenistan is represented by four athletes in this type of program. Two of them have already completed their performance: Khursand Imankuliyev (up to 63.5 kg) lost in the first fight to Chinzorig Baatarsuk (Mongolia), the finalist of the 2023 World Championship in Tashkent, participant of the last two Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, vice-champion of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta - 1:4, and Dayanch Annaseyidov (up to 51 kg) lost to Abdulaziz Khalid Alatbi (Saudi Arabia) – 1:4.
Our fourth participant in the boxing tournament – Arslanbek Achilov (up to 92 kg), 30-year-old coach of the 8th sports school of Turkmenabat, will have his first fight against Davlat Boltaev from Tajikistan, quarterfinalist of last year's Asian Championship in Amman and the World Championship-2023 in Tashkent. He previously competed at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where he failed to advance beyond the quarterfinals. Arslanbek also competed at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, took gold at the V Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku and silver at the 2016 World Cup qualifying tournament in the capital of Azerbaijan and the 2018 international tournament in Warsaw dedicated to the memory of the founding father of the Polish boxing school, legendary mentor Felix Stamm.
