First African Gyoresh Championship was held in Capetown, South African Republic on May 18 – 22 as well as African Continent Gyoresh Federation was founded. Wrestlers from more than 10 countries took part in the championship. The competitions were held in six weight categories – three men and three women. Representatives of Turkmenistan National belt Wrestling Federation were the referees of the tournament.

Our compatriot, competing in the weight category up to 97 kg, met the representative of Syria Abdulah Karem, who yielded strong attack of Turkmen wrestler. The fight was completed ahead of time with 11:0 score.

Group matches of the basketball tournament (3X3 format) were held at IV Islamic Solidarity Games. Our men team, competing in group A had two convincing victories over the teams from Turkey (21:13) and Pakistan (19:12). It brought Turkmen sportsmen to the final round of the competitions, where 8 teams are presented which would find out the winners in round system competitions.

At the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games ongoing in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, fighters of the Greco-Roman style entered the struggle for the championship, including the Turkmen sportsmen, who on the first day won one bronze medal. And meanwhile, our athletes reached the final in boxing competitions.

In his letter to President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, President of the Asian Kickboxing Confederation Nasser Nassiri has congratulated Turkmen athletes on their success at the Asian Kickboxing Championship (that took place at the Ashgabat Olympic Complex), and on our national team’s victory in the team event.

Boxer Arslanbek Achilov in the weight category up to 81 kg fought with representative of the team of Cote d’Ivoire A. Kone in Baku. The bout was the shortest fight in the present Games. I had lasted only two minutes, during which the opponent was knocked down twice. The fight was stopped because of the obvious advantage of our athlete.

In the IV Islamic Solidarity Games in the Azerbaijani capital, Merdan Atayev won the silver medal in the 50 meter backstroke event, which he finished in 25.82 seconds. It became a new national record, which exceeds the previous one, set by him during the Asian Championship in Tokyo (Japan) in 2016, by 0.06 seconds.

President of the International Federation of Weightlifting, honorary member of the International Olympic Committee Dr. Tamas Ayan in the letter sent to President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov expressed his gratitude for the excellent organisation of the Asian championship -2017 in weightlifting and the hospitality rendered in Ashgabat.

President of the International Draughts Federation V.O.Langin in the letter sent to President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov congratulated on successful performance of the national team of Turkmenistan in the qualifying draughts -64 Asian championships to the world championship of 2017 held in Tashkent.

Gold and silver medals were gained by the Turkmen sportsmen in Baku at the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, which gathered more than 3,000 athletes from 57 countries. Both awards were picked up in the weightlifting competitions. Also the capital of Azerbaijan, in the “Marriott” Hotel, hosted the presentation of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games forthcoming in Ashgabat.