Turkmen wrestlers brought home two bronze medals from the recent Asian Championship for cadets under 15, which took place in Bishkek. Meret Durdyyev, a 9th-grade student from Ashgabat Secondary School № 9, and Jeyhun Hakberdiyev, a 9th-grade student from the “Olimp” Sports School in the capital, accomplished this achievement, as reported turkmenistan.gov.tm
Meret Durdyyev competed in the freestyle wrestling category up to 44 kg, where nine athletes vied for medals. He started strong, defeating Jiwon Park (Republic of Korea) 10:0 in the quarterfinals. Although he subsequently lost to Aaryan Aaryan (India) 0:10 in the semifinals, Durdyyev rebounded to win the bronze medal match against Hun Beom Ri from the DPRK, securing his place on the podium. In the same category, Aaryan Aaryan (India) won gold, Adilet Mukanbetov (Kyrgyzstan) took silver, and Ken Furusawa (Japan) claimed the other bronze after defeating Husan Anorboyev (Uzbekistan).
Jeyhun Hakberdiyev’s bronze medal came in the Greco-Roman wrestling tournament, specifically in the 52 kg weight class, which also featured nine competitors. His path to the podium involved an initial loss in the quarterfinals to Samga Ermek (Kazakhstan) with a score of 0:10. However, Hakberdiyev successfully recovered to win the match for third place against Shivananda Yadav (India), thus earning his bronze. The gold medalist in this category was Samga Ermek (Kazakhstan), the silver medalist was Samandar Ugli Madaminov (Uzbekistan), and the other bronze was awarded to Chong Rui Li (Taiwan).
