The Turkmen karateka Alymukhammet Kakalyev won a bronze medal at the 22nd Asian Cadet, Junior & U21 Championship, held in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
The competition, organized under the aegis of the Asian Karate Federation WKF, features 561 athletes from 30 countries.
The Turkmenistan Karate-do Federation informed the «GA» correspondent that our team is represented by 10 athletes, 2 coaches and 3 international referees.
Alymukhammet Kakalyev earned the bronze in kumite among cadets in the weight category up to 57 kg, competing against 18 athletes. He achieved three victories to reach this success.
In the first match, the 9th-grade student of Ashgabat's specialized secondary school No. 61 defeated Alexander Singh Zian (Philippines) 8:3, lost to Lam Pui (Hong Kong) 4:6 in the second. Due to the Hong Kong athlete reaching the final, Alymukhammet got the chance to fight for bronze through a consolation tournament. First, A. Kakalyev defeated Duong Van Luong from Vietnam 3:0, then in a tense medal match, he beat Fahad Alazemi (Kuwait) 3:1 and climbed to the third step of the podium.
This is not the first success this year for the talented karateka in international competitions. In February, Alymukhammet became a bronze medalist at the international "Karate1 Youth League" tournament in Fujairah (UAE). In May, at the 9th Central Asian Karate WKF Championship in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), he reached the top step of the podium, and later at another international "Karate1Youth League" tournament in La Coruña, Spain, he won a bronze medal.
Alymukhammet Kakalyev began practicing karate under the guidance Maksat Atdayev, coach of the sports school of Ak Bugday etrap of the Main Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Ahal velayat. Currently, he is honing his skills in the Turkmenistan national team under the guidance of the head coach, 5th dan black belt holder Aydyn Charyyev.
Achieving success in international tournaments, Alymukhammet earns the necessary ranking points to participate in the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2026 in Dakar.
The IV Summer Youth Games, which will be the first Olympics on the territory of Africa, will be held in the capital of Senegal from October 31 to November 14, 2026.
