Turkmen sambo athletes brought ten medals to their team’s tally at the Asia and Oceania Championships among adults held in Tashkent.
The competition gathered representatives from 23 countries, who competed for medals in sport and combat sambo among men and women, as well as sambo for blind men in classes SVI-1 (totally blind) and SVI-2 (visually impaired).
On the first day of the competition, as previously reported, our compatriots were awarded six medals – two silver and four bronze. The silver medals were won by Muhammetmyrat Babekov (weight category up to 58 kg, 6 participants) in sport sambo and Bezirgen Begenjov (up to 98 kg, 5 participants) in combat sambo. Four bronze medals were earned by sport sambo representatives: Sapar Dovletov (up to 64 kg, 8 participants) in the men’s tournament, and Aziza Nazarova (up to 50 kg, 5 participants), Zuleyha Hudayberdiyeva (up to 54 kg, 5 participants), and Merjen Jorayeva (up to 59 kg, 4 participants) in the women’s tournament.
On the second day of the competition, the Turkmenistan team’s medal tally was further increased by four more bronze medals. These were brought by masters of combat sambo. Mergen Durdyyev (up to 64 kg, 9 participants) won bronze by defeating Orlando Castillo (Philippines) 4:0 in the quarterfinal and losing 0:2 to Aslan Turusbekov (Kazakhstan) in the semifinal. Meanwhile, Yusup Tanriberdiyev (up to 58 kg, 5 participants), Zyba Orunova (up to 59 kg, 4 participants), and Maysa Gupbykova (up to 65 kg, 4 participants) lost in their semifinal matches and took third place on the podium.
