The bronze medal was won by Alp freestyle wrestler Arslan Begenjov at the international Junior tournament of champions among athletes under 20 years old, held in Antalya, Turkey.
The competition brought together 316 athletes (213 men and 103 women) from 15 European and Asian countries, who competed for 30 sets of medals – 10 each in freestyle wrestling among men and women, as well as in Greco-Roman. The Turkish national team, as hosts of the tournament, fielded the largest squad – 136 athletes (94 men and 42 women).
The Turkmen team was represented by 15 athletes in freestyle (9 men) and Greco-Roman (6 athletes) wrestling competitions. And only one of them managed to return home with a medal.
Arslan Begenzhov achieved the bronze success of the Alp in the weight category up to 74 kg, in which 13 freestyle wrestlers from 6 countries contested medals.
In the first fight, which turned out to be a quarterfinal by the will of the lot, a student of the 11th grade of the Moscow Boarding School for the training of young Olympians won against Georgy Gogrichiani (Georgia). Then in the semifinals he lost to the future silver medalist of the tournament Ibrahim Metehan Yaprak (Turkey). In the bronze medal match, Alp Arslan Begenjov scored a clean victory over Bekbol Izabekov (Kyrgyzstan) in the 3rd minute. The second one the bronze medal was won by Murat Dogan (Turkey), who defeated Ahmad Ahmadli (Azerbaijan). And the winner in this weight category was Ali Abbas Rezaiyaghuzgele (Iran).
Alp Arslan Begenzhov, who will turn 17 on August 8, began freestyle wrestling in the section of the current head coach of the national cadet team of Turkmenistan, Berda Atabayev. Currently, he is improving his skills under the guidance of the silver medalist of the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, Batyr Orazgylydzhov.
And very successfully.
Prior to that, A.Begenjov twice – in 2022 and 2023 – excelled at the international tournament "Constantin Alexandru & Ioan W. Popovici" among cadets under 17 in Romania. In 2022, at the Asian Cadet Championship, he won gold in the weight category up to 65 kg. Last year, at the Asian Cadet Championship in Bishkek, he became the bronze medalist in the weight up to 71 kg. And now, at the international junior tournament of champions among athletes under 20, he was awarded bronze, but in a different category – up to 74 kg.
