Turkmen athletes achieved their second victory at the ongoing 2nd World Olympic Boxing Qualification Tournament in Bangkok. This success was achieved by 23-year-old Saparmyrat Odayev from Balkanabat.
In the starting bout against 28-year-old Lee Kong Chin from Hong Kong in the up to 63.5 kg weight category, where 65 boxers are fighting for five quotas for the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, our compatriot dominated throughout all three rounds. Therefore, it is not surprising that all five judges from Taiwan, Canada, Algeria, Sri Lanka and Ukraine unanimously awarded the victory to Saparmyrat, who will face 28-year-old Asian champion, two-time Olympic quarterfinalist Tsendbaatar Erdenebat from Mongolia in the 1/16 finals.
Tsendbaatar Erdenebat successfully returned from the professional boxing world, winning his starting bout against Vietnamese Vu Thanh Dat – 5:0. As reported by the press service of the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC), in this bout, the Mongolian athlete saved a lot of energy for the next stage of selection, firmly counting on qualifying for his third Olympic Games.
Our boxer has the same plans. Saparmyrat started boxing at an early age of 7. In 2013, he joined the schoolchildren's age group and quickly won a gold medal at his first national championship. Since then, he has won titles in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018 in various age groups. And in 2018, he became the silver medalist at the Asian Youth Championship in the capital of Thailand.
At the first World Olympic Qualification Tournament in March of this year in Busto Arsizio (Italy), Saparmyrat Odayev was one step away from earning a spot at the Olympic Games 2024 in France. After winning victories in three bouts against Hampus Broman (Sweden), Ismail Umar (Finland) and Bartlomiej Roskowicz (Poland), he lost in the quarterfinals to Jesus Cova (Venezuela) and ultimately postponed the task of reaching the Olympic Paris until the current competitions in Bangkok.
It is worth noting that Saparmyrat Odayev successfully combines active boxing with coaching activities at Sports School No. 3 in Balkanabat.
However, another of our boxers – bronze medalist of the 19th Asian Games Bayramdurdy Nurmuhammedov, who was also counted on by the coaches of the Turkmenistan national team, lost his first bout by a split decision of judges to 27-year-old bronze medalist of the Asian Championship 2022 Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar (Mongolia) and bid farewell to his dream of reaching the 2024 Olympics. Only one referee from the Philippines awarded the victory to Bayramdurdy – 29:28. The remaining four judges from Puerto Rico, the USA, Ukraine and Guatemala, with the same minimal advantage, cast their votes in favor of the opponent.
"The Turkmen boxer rushed forward without any stops, planning to deliver a devastating blow, but the Mongolian athlete Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar proved to be smarter in tactics," commented the result of the bout in the press service of the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC).
Earlier, Shukur Ovezov, 5th-year student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, advanced to the second round of the World Olympic Boxing Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, defeating Ziyad Ali Majrashi (Saudi Arabia) – 5:0 in the starting bout of the up to 57 kg weight category. In the next round of these competitions, Shukur will face 25-year-old renowned boxer from the Philippines Carlo Paalam, silver medalist of the Tokyo Olympic Games and bronze medalist of the 18th Asian Games 2018 in the up to 52 kg weight category, champion of Asia 2022 in the 54 kg weight,.
The second World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bangkok is the last chance for boxers to earn quotas for the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris.
