DUSHANBE, August 1, 2008, Asia-Plus — According to adjusted data provided by Tajikistan’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), fifteen but not fourteen athletes, as it had been reported earlier, will represent Tajikistan in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The NOC source said that the fifteenth athlete – Sergey Bibikov (sports shooting) – had become known at the very last moment, just a day before departure to Beijing.
In the meantime, during a send-off given to Tajik Olympic competitors at the Dushanbe airport, Behzod Fayzulloyev, director general manager the telecommunications company Babilon, stated that his company had set prize money to Tajik athletes who win Olympic medals in Beijing. According to him, Tajik gold winners will receive $30,000 each, silver winners will receive $20,000 and bronze winners – $10,000.
Thus, fifteen Tajik athletes will participate in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing: hummer throwers Dilshod Nazarov and Galina Mityayeva; judo players Rasoul Boqiyev, Sherali Bozorov and Nematullo Asronqulov; free-style wrestlers Yusuf Abdusalomov and Vitaly Koryakin; boxers Anvar Yunusov, Jahon Qurbonov and Sherali Dostiyev; swimmers Yekaterina Izmaylova and Alisher Chingizov; female archer Albina Kamolitdinova; weightlifter Nizom Sangov, and Sergey Bibikov (sports shooting).
