Islom Ashurmatov has been practicing Taekwondo since childhood. During all this time there were bright victories and bitter defeats. But persistence and hard work have born results. Islom recently became the World Cup champion among adults, winning gold and bronze medals.
The young champion tells Asia-Plus how he has achieved those results.
“I was interested in martial arts since childhood. When I was 8 years old my dad brought me to the Taekwondo Center. Since that time taekwondo has become part of my life. My first medal I won a year later, at the Republic championship. I also often remember the moment when I was admitted to the national team of the country. Until then, we, the young athletes with envy looking at how our best taekwondo black belts out on the mat and confidently, accurately perform complex exercises – patterns or showed strength, high technology and courage in sparring. And in January 2012, after a month's selection, I was accepted into the ranks of the national team. These two moments of my sporting life are the most vivid and enjoyable in my memory.
“In December of 2012, I went to the United States to study. Enrolled to a College, Green River in Seattle, I began participating in taekwondo competitions in 2013. I won the tournament in Florida and later the absolute champion of the America's Cup, which was held in New York. An interesting story is related to this championship. When I flew from Seattle to New York, I did not know that my friend Soleh Isamov is also flying to the tournament. Soleh studied in Nebraska, and I'm in Seattle. There were no schools of taekwondo in our cities, but we have trained ourselves to keep fit. In New York, we stayed in the same hotel. In truth, we were ready to compete in sparring, hardly giving time Pattern. Then the US team coach comes and says that we have recorded in the sparring and pattern. Guess what happened the next day? We both have outperformed our rivals and have met in the finals! We were very afraid that suddenly make a mistake, but everything went well. However, at the end Soleh made errors in the exercises, while I concluded my performance with no errors, won my first gold in the men's category. And then I took the first place in sparring too, and thus became the absolute champion, winning two gold medals. Of course, I was very happy.”
Islom returned to Dushanbe last April. He continued his training under the guidance of Muhammadjon Tajibayev. For the first time taking part in the world championship among adults, he could not reach the final, limiting bronze. And recently, he participated in the World Cup in Minsk and won gold and bronze medals.
Born in Dushanbe on October 3, 1996, Islom Ashurmatov is Asian Junior Champion (2012, Dushanbe). World Junior Champion (2012, Tallinn), the winner of the Florida State Championships, USA (2014), the absolute champion of the America's Cup among adults (2014, New York), bronze medalist at the World Championship among adults (2015, Sofia), and World Cup winner and bronze medalist among adults (2016, Minsk). He is the holder of a black belt, 3rd dan.
