Turkmen sportsmen won two bronze medals on the last day of their performance at the 19th Summer Asian Games in Hangzhou. They were brought to the team by karateka Bayry Bayryyev and freestyle wrestler Dovletmyrat Orazgylyjov.
A 22-year-old 5th year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Architecture and Construction, Bayry Bayryyev, won bronze in kumite (sparring), conducted according to the rules of the World Karate Federation (WKF), in the weight category up to 67 kg, in which 22 sportsmen competed for medals. And the 27-year-old international master of sports in freestyle wrestling, Dovletmyrat Orazgylyjov, achieved the same success in the weight category up to 86 kg, in which 17 participants competed for awards.
Karate has long been considered one of the sports candidates for inclusion in the Olympic Games program. One of the obstacles on the way to the status of an Olympic sport was the high injury rate of sportsmen. In addition, inclusion in the Olympic program was hampered by the presence of a huge number of karate styles and federations that did not strive for any sports unification necessary to become an Olympic sport. In 1990, a number of organizations merged to form the World Karate Federation (WKF), which represents the interests of this sport in the International Olympic Committee. In 2020, karate, along with four sports, became Olympic. However, then karate was again excluded from the Olympic disciplines: it was not included in the program of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The Turkmen team was represented by four athletes in the karate competitions at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. And only one of them managed to become a prize-winner.
In the first round, Bayry lost to the future champion of the 19th Asian Games, Fahad Al-Ajmi (Kuwait) – 1:4. However, in subsequent matches of the consolation tournament, in which the fate of one of the two bronze medals was decided, he prevailed over his rivals. First, our compatriot easily beat Rinchen Jamtsho (Bhutan) - 8:0, then defeated Kalys Nurlanbek uulu (Kyrgyzstan) - 8:4, and in the bronze medal match he left no chance for Chen Chun Shi (Taiwan) - 9:1.
The second bronze medal in the weight category up to 67 kg went to the silver medalist of the 2023 Asian Championship and the 2018 Asian Games, Didar Amirali (Kazakhstan), who prevailed in the match for 3rd place over the two-time world champion of 2012 and 2016, winner of the 2014 Asian Games, Amir Mahdi Zadeh (Iran) – 7:2. The bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the current Asian champion Abdel Rahman Almasatfa (Jordan), climbed to the second step of the podium, losing to Fahad Al-Ajmi (Kuwait) in the fight for gold - 6:9.
Bayry Bayryev has been practicing karate for 12 years. He began to master the basics of this Japanese martial art in Balkanabat with his first coach Nazmammet Satlykgulyyev. Currently, he is improving his sports skills with the head coach of the Turkmenistan national team, Aydyn Charyyev.
Last month, Bayry Bayryyev took second place in the open weight category at the World Shotokan Karate Championship held in Tashkent, held under the auspices of the World Shotokan Karate Federation (WSKF). And now he has won the first medal in the history of Turkmen sports in karate (WKF) at the Asian Games.
Turkmen freestyle wrestling masters also won their first medal at the Summer Asian Games. It was won, as mentioned above, in the weight category up to 86 kg by Dovletmyrat Orazgylyjov. Previously, Greco-Roman wrestlers Shermet Permanov (up to 71 kg) at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon (Republic of Korea) and Shihazberdi Ovelekov (up to 87 kg) at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta (Indonesia) achieved bronze success in wrestling.
On the way to the bronze medal, D. Orazgylyjov had four bouts. In the first round, he easily beat Wen Luen Gary Chow (Singapore) - 11:0, then in the quarterfinals he lost to the Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro and the silver medalist of the Tokyo Olympics, three-time world champion 2017, 2019 and 2021, two-time champion Asia 2018 and 2021 and the Asian Games in Jakarta and Hangzhou Hasan Yazdanicharati (Iran) – 0:10. In the consolation round, Dovletmyrat defeated the two-time bronze medalist of the junior world championship (under 20 years old) 2021 and 2022 Muhammad Abdullayev (Kyrgyzstan) - 9:3, and in the fight for bronze he prevailed over Bat-Erdene Byambasuren (Mongolia) - 12:4.
The second bronze medalist in the weight category up to 86 kg was Javrail Shapiyev (Uzbekistan), who defeated Magomed Sharipov (Qatar) in the fight for 3rd place - 3:0. Silver went to Deepak Punia (India), who lost in the final to Hasan Yazdanicharati (Iran) - 0:10.
Dovletmyrat Orazgylyjov has been practicing freestyle wrestling since childhood. He began to comprehend the secrets of this sport in the Garagum etrap of Mary velayat under the guidance of his father Ovezgeldi Orazgylyjov. After graduating from the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Education and Sports, he was enrolled in the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an instructor in the «Turkmen Edermen» department. He practices freestyle wrestling at the capital's «Galkynysh» sports and recreation complex under the guidance of the senior coach of the Turkmenistan national team, Yusup Melejayev.
D. Orazgylyjov’s first truly great success came in 2017 at the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, where he took 3rd place. The following year, Dovletmyrat already wins silver at the Alexander Medved tournament in Minsk (Belarus) and bronze at the Ivan Yarygin tournament in Krasnoyarsk and the World Youth Championship (under 23 years old). In 2019, he became a silver medalist at the Asian Youth Championship (U23) in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) and at the Spanish Grand Prix tournament in Madrid. And this year he excelled at the international tournament in Bucharest (Romania).
At the previous Asian Games in Indonesia, Dovletmyrat Orazgylyjov took 15th place. And now he has become a bronze medalist at the four-year continental complex competition.
Perman Hommadov (up to 74 kg) in freestyle wrestling and Aybegshazada Kurrayev (up to 130 kg) in Greco-Roman wrestling could also increase the medal collection of the Turkmenistan team at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. But both lost to their opponents in the bronze medal bouts. Perman Hommadov lost to the bronze medalist of the Tokyo Olympics and the 2014 and 2018 World Championships, the champion of the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games of 2017 in Ashgabat, the two-time Asian champion of 2015 and 2017 in Doha and New Delhi and the 2014 Asian Games and 2018 in Incheon and Indonesia to Bekzod Abdurahmonov (Uzbekistan) – 0:4. And Aybegshazada Kurrayev lost to the 2022 Asian champion in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) Alimhan Syzdykov (Kazakhstan) - 1:5.
At the closing ceremony of the 19th Summer Asian Games, which took place at the stadium of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre with a capacity of 80 thousand spectators, the flags of all 45 participating countries were brought to the sports arena. The national flag of Turkmenistan was proudly carried by Aybegshazada Kurrayev.
At the same ceremony, the mayor of Hangzhou Yao Gaoyuan handed over the flag, the torch of the first Asian Games and the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia to Nakata Hideo, deputy mayor of the city of Nagoya (Japan), where the next, XX Summer Asian Games will be held in three years.
