Turkmen athletes win 10 Asian Sambo Championship medals

TURKMENISTAN – Turkmen athletes won 10 medals at the Asian Sport and Combat Sambo Championship held at the beginning of June in Tashkent, which hosted participants from 25 countries who competed in three age categories.
Victory in the 82 kg weight class went to Alai Niyazmengliev. The 31-year-old athlete defeated Uzbekistan's Soli Kiyamov in his first bout (5-3) and Kazakhstan's Erbol Tomanov in his second (8-4). In the final, Niyazmengliev scored a clean victory over Iran's Raz Iskandari earning him a well-deserved gold medal. It wasn't his first international level success. In 2005, Alai won a Class A international tournament in Moscow and a bronze medal at the World Championships in Prague.
In the up to 90 kg weight class, National Institute of Sport and Tourism (NIST) student Ruslan Paizullaev won a bronze medal. Ashgabat's Meilis Klychev and Mukhamed Temirov from Turkmenbat had similar success in the sport Sambo competition. Klychev took the bronze in the up to 81 kg weight class among cadets, while Temirov took the bronze in the junior category up to 74 kg.
The women's team also performed well, winning six medals. Gulbadam Babamuradova took the silver in the women’s up to 52 kg weight class, as did Zarina Japbarova in the same weight class among juniors and Madina Babakulieva in the up to 48 kg weight class. Bronze medals went to Altyn Jepbarova (to 56 kg) and NIST student Aziza Cholieva (to 60 kg) among juniors.
The Turkmen team's victory is reflected in the prestige of the national Sambo association. At the congress of the Asian Sambo Federation (AFS), which was held during the competition, Deputy Chair of the Turkmen National Martial Arts Centre Ata Adaev was chosen to serve as deputy chairman of the AFS commission for the development of sport and combat Sambo, and as vice president of the Central Asian Sambo Federation.