Turkmen karate athletes won three bronze medals at the 22nd Asian Cadet, Junior & U21 Championship, which concluded today in Manila.
The competition, organized by the Asian Karate Federation WKF in the capital of the Philippines, brought together 561 athletes from 30 countries.
WKF is the English abbreviation for the World Karate Federation, which includes 200 countries representing five continental federations. It is currently the only karate organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee and has over one hundred million members.
The Turkmenistan team at the Asian Championship consisted of 10 athletes, 2 coaches and 3 international category judges.
As previously reported, the first bronze medal for our team was won by Alymukhammet Kakalyev, a 9th-grade student of Ashgabat secondary specialized school No. 61, in the cadet kumite category up to 57 kg.
On the final day of the competition, the Turkmenistan national team's medal tally was supplemented with two more bronze medals. These were won by Magtymguly Annaev, an athlete of the Turkmenistan Karatedo Federation, and Davut Nazmyradov, a 4th-year student at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. Both succeeded in the kumite category for athletes under 21 years old: Magtymguly in the weight category up to 55 kg, where 13 athletes competed, and Davut in the weight category up to 75 kg, where 16 karate athletes participated.
M. Annaev secured two victories on his way to the medal. In the first match, he defeated Khasimuddin Ak Ahmad Munib Aiman (Brunei) 10:2, then lost to Truong Nam Tien (Vietnam) 4:8. Due to the Vietnamese athlete reaching the final, Magtymguly earned the right to compete for bronze in the consolation tournament. In a tense medal match, our compatriot triumphed over Salem Alajmi (Kuwait) 9:8 and ascended to the third step of the podium.
Davut Nazmyradov achieved similar success by winning three matches. In the first round, he defeated Mukhammadali Saymatov (Uzbekistan) 6:3, and in the second round, he overcame Abdulrahman Al-Mohanadi (Qatar) 10:0. After losing in the semi-final to Mohammad Erfan Askaripour (Iran) 4:11, Davut earned the right to a match for third place, in which he defeated Lu Vo Anh Duy (Vietnam) 10:2 and was awarded the bronze medal.
Earlier this year, M. Annaev and D. Nazmyradov were champions at the 9th Central Asian Championships in Samarkand. Now, they have become bronze medalists at the Asian Championship. Magtymguly began practicing karate under the guidance of Amangeldi Byashimov, coach at Ak Bugday etrap sports school of the Main Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Ahal velayat, while Davut trained with coach of the 1st sports school of Balkanabat in Balkan velayat. Currently, both athletes are honing their skills with the Turkmenistan national team under the leadership of the head coach, 5th dan black belt holder Aydyn Charyyev.
