In the capital’s Olympic village, it was started the Asian Kickboxing Championship, attended by nearly 300 sportsmen from 17 countries – the Republic of Korea, India, Malaysia, Jordan, Syria, Nepal, Iraq etc. Program includes six medal events – point-fighting, semi-contact, kick-light, low-kick, full-contact and solo exercises. Today, there were held the quarterfinal bouts, which the Turkmen sportsmen completed without defeats. The audience especially remembered the fight in the weight category under 81 kg, where our compatriot Azamat Jumakuliev knocked out the Kyrgyz athlete on the 20th second of the first round. Kickboxing is one of the youngest events, originated in the 60s of the last century in the United States. Originally, it was “full-contact karate”, but due to the protests of the leaders of the International Traditional Karate Federation, new martial arts was renamed into kickboxing. “Full-contact” today is one of disciplines in the competition, where only body can be stricken. High stable results of Turkmen athletes in the international field are evidenced by hundreds of medals, filling our country’s sporting achievement treasury. For example, this year, at major international tournaments in Helsinki (Finland) and Riga (Latvia), our athletes won 39 medals – 22 gold, nine silver and eight bronze. In the present Asian Championship, we expect the Turkmen kickboxers to demonstrate their best skills.