September 25 was a gold medal day for Tajik athletes at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat. Yesterday, Tajik athletes won three gold medals.
Mizhgona Samadova (-57kg) has grabbed the first gold medal for Tajikistan, finishing first in the “light contact” discipline, women’s kickboxing. In the final, she defeated Turkmen kickboxing fighter Fulzade Jorakuliyeva.
Sambo (a Soviet martial art and combat sport) fighter Akmaliddin Karimov (-57kg) has brought the second gold medal for Tajikistan, defeating Mongolian athlete Maral-Erdene Chimeddorja in the final.
Behrouz Khojazoda (-74kg), who already has the silver medal in kurash (one of the Turkic terms for “wrestling” and specifically refers to a number of folk wrestling styles practiced in Central Asia), won the gold medal in sambo, defeating another Tajik sambo fighter Muboriz Munavvarov in the final.
Besides, sambo fighter Faridoun Odilov (-82kg) won the bronze medal in combat sambo, and Siyovush Ibrohimov (-69kg) and Daler Tyuryaev (-79kg) won the bronze medals in kickboxing.
Tajikistan now is in the 16th place with three gold, eleven silver and 31 bronze medals.
Recall, the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games are taking place in Turkmenistan and Tajik athletes are competing in chess, belt wrestling, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), kickboxing, powerlifting, taekwondo (WTF), kurash, jiu-jitsu, sambo, and track and field athletics.
In all, 6,000 athletes from 62 countries are participating in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, the source added.
The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which is also counted as the 5th Asian Indoor Games are being held in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. Ashgabat, first in the former Soviet Central Asian region, won the right to host the Asian Indoor Games. The host city was chosen in Kuwait on December 19, 2010. On July 6, 2013, the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia was officially handed over to the mayor of the city of Ashgabat.
The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games are being held at the Ashgabat Olympic Complex, which is a unique facility which has no parallel in the Central Asian region. The Complex boasts of over 30 structures, which also includes 15 competition venues, an Athletes' Village and a Paralympic Rehabilitation Medical Center. The construction was launched by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. On November 5, 2010, the Turkmenistan President took part in the official stone laying ceremony for the Olympic Village. Investment in the first phase amounted to nearly $2 billion. The second phase of construction cost $3 billion. The total cost of the Olympic Village was $5 billion and the construction was carried by Turkish construction company Polimeks.
