A new bright chapter has been added to the history of Turkmen sports. It was written by Alp Arslan Begenjov, who won Turkmenistan's first gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the recently concluded U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. The 18-year-old master of sports of international class from Ashgabat achieved this historic success in the 79 kg weight category, where 27 wrestlers competed for the title.
On his way to the top prize, our compatriot did not lose a single point to his opponents, winning five matches with a total score of 46:0.
Alp Arslan won his first three matches with identical scores of 10:0 against Mahdi Mohammad Yousefihajivar (Iran), Oleksandr Mamrosh (Ukraine), and Belarusian athlete Dmitry Lukashuk, who competed under the flag of the international sports federation "United World Wrestling." In the semifinals, A. Begenjov defeated bronze medalist of the U23 and U20 Asian Championships Amit Amit (India) 11:0, and in the final, he triumphed over two-time U17 World Championship bronze medalist in Italy-2022 and Turkey-2023 and Pan-American champion-2024 in Peru, Zachary Ryder (USA) 5:0, ascending to the highest podium.
Bronze medals in this weight category went to Iranian Mahdi Mohammad Yousefihajivar and Brazilian Leandro Araujo.
In honor of the Turkmen athlete's gold at the U20 World Wrestling Championships, the flag of our country was raised, and the national anthem of Turkmenistan was played under the arches of the Sports Palace in Spain.
Thirty years ago, Shohrat Khojaev won Turkmenistan's first gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the World Youth Championship U17 in Chicago (USA). And now, Alp Arslan Begenjov has won our country's first gold at the World Championships in freestyle wrestling among athletes under 20.
"This was my dream, and I am glad that I realized it and became the first world champion in freestyle wrestling in the history of Turkmenistan," said a happy A. Begenjov after the final.
Alp Arslan first made a name for himself in 2022 when he won the international tournament "Constantin Alexandru & Ioan W. Popovici" among cadets under 17 in Romania and won a gold medal in the same age category at the Asian Championships in Bishkek. In 2023, he was awarded bronze at the Asian U17 Championship.
Begenjov also participated twice in the World Championships U17 in 2022 and 2023, finishing in 12th and 5th places, respectively.
This year did not start very well for Alp Arslan. In April, he took 5th place at the Asian Championship, and he finished 11th at the Olympic qualification tournament in Kyrgyzstan, missing out on the Paris Olympics-2024. The defeat at the Asian Championship deeply affected A. Begenjov.
"I was so disappointed after loosing at the Asian Championship," he said. "I started training harder, and I won a bronze medal at the Asian U23 Championship in Jordan in June, I won gold at the U20 Asian Championship in Thailand in July, and now I have also become a world champion."
Alp Arslan Begenjov learned the basics of freestyle wrestling from his uncle in Ashgabat and also trained in the section of Berdi Atabayev, head coach of the Turkmenistan cadet team. Currently, he is honing his skills under the guidance of Batyr Orazgylyjov, the silver medalist of the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and now the head coach of the Turkmenistan U20 youth team.
This year, Alp Arslan graduated from the capital's boarding school for training young Olympians and entered the Turkmen State Institute of Finance.
In the future plans of the talented 18-year-old Turkmen freestyle wrestler is preparation for his debut at the World Championships U23, which will be held from October 21 to 27 in Tirana (Albania). However, he does not plan to compete at the senior level yet.
"I am physically not strong enough yet for senior level. I need to train harder to win the senior world title," believes Alp Arslan Begenjov.
