Nine athletes will represent the Turkmenistan national team at the World Weightlifting Cup, which started in Phuket (Thailand).
The competition brought together 459 athletes (231 men and 228 women) from 110 countries, which until 11th of April inclusive will compete for medals in ten men's and ten women's weight categories, and will also compete for tickets to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in five weight categories for men (up to 61 kg, 73 kg, 89 kg, 102 kg and over 102 kg) and women (up to 49 kg, 59 kg, 71 kg, 81 kg and over 81 kg).
According to the previously adopted new regulations, a total of 120 athletes in 10 categories will compete for medals at the Paris Games at the weightlifting tournament (5 for men and 5 for women - four less than at the Tokyo Olympics). At the same time, 12 weightlifters will compete in each weight category in Paris - two less than in the capital of Japan.
Therefore, each National Olympic Committee (NOC) can receive a maximum of one quota per weight category and three per gender (at the Tokyo Olympics there were four).
The Phuket World Cup is the final qualifying event for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Therefore, our weightlifters have one task at the current tournament - to show the highest results.
For women in the Turkmenistan team, Kristina Shermetova (up to 59 kg) and Anamjan Rustamova (up to 81 kg) will appear on the Thai platform, and for men - Seyitjan Mirzayev (up to 61 kg), Bunyad Rashidov, Bektimur Reyimov (both up to 73 kg), Maksat Meredov (up to 81 kg), Gaygysyz Torayev, Shatlyk Shohradov (both up to 89 kg), Davranbek Hasanbayev, Shahzadbek Matyakubov (up to 102 kg) and Hojamuhammet Toychyyev (over 109 kg).
Two months ago, at the Asian Championships in Tashkent, where Olympic licenses were also awarded, Turkmen weightlifters won three bronze medals.
Anamjan Rustamova in the weight category up to 81 kg then won bronze in the snatch (105 kg), losing to the host of the competition Rigina Adashbayeva from Uzbekistan (107 kg) and Korean Kim Suhyun (110 kg). And in the clean and jerk, she was unable to complete a single successful attempt and ended up finishing the performance with a zero score.
The other two bronze medals at the 2024 Asian Championships in the clean and jerk and combined event were won by Gaygysyz Torayev. A 3rd year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Education and Sports achieved this success in the non-Olympic weight category up to 81 kg, in which 10 athletes competed for medals. In the sum of two exercises, Gaygysyz then gained 337 kg (snatch - 148 kg, clean and jerk - 189 kg) - 6 kg less than his best result shown at the September 2023 World Championships in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), where he won bronze medal in the clean and jerk (193 kg), and in the combined event (343 kg) he took 6th place.
At the current World Cup in Phuket, Gaygysyz Torayev will make his debut in a new Olympic weight category - up to 89 kg.
