Turkmen wrestlers won one silver and three bronze medals in freestyle and Greco-Roman categories at the U23 Asian Wrestling Championships, held in the Vietnamese city of Vung Tau, with participants from 15 countries.
The competition gathered over 200 athletes from Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan, China, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka. They competed for 10 sets of medals in three Olympic wrestling disciplines: freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women's wrestling.
Turkmenistan won three medals in freestyle wrestling: one silver and two bronze.
The silver medal was won by Alp Arslan Begenjov, a first-year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Finance. This 18-year-old international master of sports from Ashgabat achieved this success in the weight category up to 79 kg, where 9 athletes competed for the top title.
In the quarterfinals, Alp Arslan defeated Askhab Hajiyev (Kazakhstan) 15:4, convincingly won against Daler Chulibaev (Uzbekistan) 11:0 in the semifinals, but lost in the final to Chander Mohan (India) 2:5, earning the silver medal.
Notably, last year at the U23 Asian Championship in Jordan, A. Begenjov won a bronze medal, and now he has improved to silver.
Alp Arslan first gained attention in 2022 when he won the international "Constantin Alexandru & Ioan W. Popovici" tournament among cadets under 17 in Romania and also took gold in the same age group at the Asian Championship in Bishkek. In 2023, he earned bronze at the U17 Asian Championship. Last year, he won gold at both the Asian and World Championships for athletes under 20 in Thailand and Spain, respectively.
Alp Arslan Begenjov learned the basics of freestyle wrestling from his uncle in Ashgabat and trained under Berdi Atabaev, the head coach of the Turkmen cadet national team. Currently, he is honing his skills under the guidance of Batyr Orazgylyjov, silver medalist of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and current head coach of the Turkmen U20 youth team.
The two bronze medals in freestyle wrestling were won by Watan Annaorazov, a first-year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Architecture and Construction (up to 74 kg) and Soltan Sanjar Begenjov, a third-year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Finance (up to 86 kg). On his path to bronze, Watan lost in the quarterfinals to Zafarbek Otakhonov (Uzbekistan) 6:8 but won the third-place match against Tao Shen (China) 6:0. Soltan Sanjar Begenjov defeated Kovtam Sivakumar (Sri Lanka) 10:0 in the quarterfinals, lost 0:10 to Muhammad Abdullaev (Kyrgyzstan) in the semifinals, and won the bronze match against Sagar Jaglan (India) 11:0.
Another bronze medal of the U23 Asian Wrestling Championships for Turkmenistan was won in Greco-Roman wrestling by Didar Orazberdiyev, a second-year student at the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports. He competed in the weight category up to 72 kg, which featured 8 athletes. In the quarterfinals, Didar defeated Dhirendra Anandraj (Malaysia) 8:0, lost 0:8 to Kutman Temirbekov (Kyrgyzstan) in the semifinals, and won the bronze medal match against Van Chuen Nguyen (Vietnam) 8:0, securing third place on the podium.
