Since my youth, wherever I am, I have never left to run early in the morning. Here and in the new place of residence, the stadium “Köpetdag” near the house, and I don’t leave my favorite activity. And in the mornings, the stadium is always especially crowded: some run like me, others study in sports sections, and others working here.
Once, during another run, I noticed an old man who skillfully performed difficult gymnastic exercises. It seemed that he had probably been involved in professional sports in the past. It became interesting, and I decided to get to know him.
Once again, a little tired after the run, I offered him to rest on the bench. He agreed willingly. The conversation started. It turned out that my interlocutor, Tagir Alikperovich Agaev, was indeed a professional athlete in the past. His sports career began in the sixties of the last century. As a teenager, my interlocutor was among the first to start wrestling sambo. In Turkmenistan, the sambo was just beginning to develop.
Tagir was one of those whose childhood had a difficult post-war period, which was exacerbated by the tragedy - the devastating earthquake of 1948. The teenager combined his activities with work as an electric welder at the Ashgabat mechanical and repair plant. There Tagir and met the freestyle fighter Yuri Gubayev, who advised him to try his power at fighting. So Tahir was in the sports society “Dynamo”, gtting into the sambo section.
Pavel Mikhailovich Bugrov, one of the founders of Turkmen sambo, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan, became the first mentor of the young wrestler. At that time, the “Dynamo” sports Society was active in many republics of the former Soviet Union.
My interlocutor remembers his first competitions with special warmth: in March 1965, the winter Games of the “Dynamo” society was held in Ashgabat. He took third place in the junior championship, which was the first and significant step in his sports career. In the future, his successes only multiplied, he became the winner of many competitions, including the VII Ashgabat Games.
His first international tournaments were also successful. In 1965, in Pushkin (Leningrad region, Russia), the Physical Culture and Sports Society «Dinamo» organized the Sports Contest «Young Dinamo». In this tournament, Tagir was the second among the fighters of the 58 kg weight category, defeating athletes from Georgia, Latvia and Russia.
The open championship of Uzbekistan, which took place in November 1965 in Tashkent, was a great success for Tahir Agaev. He took second place. It is noteworthy that in the final, Turkmenistan was represented by four sambists, and one of them - Gennadiy Pereplekin became the champion.
Moving forward, Tagir Alikperovich significantly improved his skills, which allowed him to take a strong place among the strongest. In 1967, the first sambo championship of Turkmenistan was held, and Tagir, having defeated all rivals, became one of the first champions of the country.
Tagir's passion for sports did not leave him during his military service. In 1968, as a soldier, he was among the winners of various competitions there.
Tagir Agaev made a significant contribution to the development of native sambo. He continued for a long time to win prizes in national and international tournaments. In 1983, having successfully graduated from the branch of the Economic Faculty of the Turkmen Agricultural Institute in Ashgabat, he worked in enterprises of the transport sector. In addition, Tagir Agaev was engaged in scientific activities. In 1994 he successfully defended his PhD thesis on the topic “Transport efficiency in agriculture” and received a PhD degree in economics.
The Republic appreciated Tagir Agayev's work: in 1996, by Decree of the President of Turkmenistan, he was awarded the “Watana bolan söýgüsi üçin” medal.
Despite all his achievements, the veteran of labor and an experienced sambo wrestler continues to work very successfully to this days. Currently, he is the General Director of the “TurkmenautoGAZ” Regional Technical Center. In addition to his professional activities, Tagir Alikperovich is actively involved in organizing sports competitions dedicated to significant dates, and is also engaged in charity work. Under his leadership, the company presented hundreds of bicycles to children in orphanages. One such event took place in the Balkanabat City Children’s Home, a notable episode of this was that it was attended by Russian cosmonaut Musa Manarov. And most recently, at a tournament in honor of Turkmenistan's Neutrality Day among university students, organized by the Ministry of Education and the State Committee for Physical Education and Sports, he was the chief judge of sambo competitions.
– In our youth, we did not have such conditions for sports as we do now. This became possible due to the assistance of the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Hero Arkadag. Many sports facilities have been built and are functioning throughout the country, which provide all the opportunities for physical training and sports. Our capital's Olympic Town, a grandiose sports complex built on the initiative of Hero Arkadag, has no analogues in the region. The Olympic Town hosts many major international tournaments: in 2017, the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games were held here. I am particularly pleased that sambo wrestling was included in the program of those Games, in addition to other sports. Today, thanks to the far-sighted political course of the respected President of the country, Serdar Berdimuhammedov, Turkmen sport is moving the path of triumphant achievements. And our athletes successfully represent the country at international tournaments, winning prizes. Being a veteran sambo wrestler, I wish to our young athletes only one thing – success and victories.
