Turkmen track-and-field athletes made their debut at the ongoing XX summer Asian games in the Japanese city of Nagoya, the administrative centre of Aichi prefecture. Turkmenistan is represented in track and field sprint events by three masters of sport: Lukman Gurbandurdyyev, Enejan Esedova, and Valentina Meredova, a current coach at the School of higher sports mastery.

Valentina Meredova, the most experienced athlete on the Turkmen team, was the first to take to the 100-metre track. For her, these are already her third summer Asian games, following Doha 2006 and Incheon 2014. Meredova, who will celebrate her 42^nd birthday on the 29^th of September, has devoted 29 years to track and field. Her record includes participation in two Olympic Games (Beijing 2008 and Paris 2024), three summer world championships (Helsinki 2005, Osaka 2007, Beijing 2015), and three world indoor championships (Moscow 2006, Valencia 2008, Portland 2016). In addition, Valentina competed in three Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (Wuhan 2015, Doha 2019, Bangkok 2023) and four Asian Indoor Championships (Doha 2016, Tehran 2018, Nur-Sultan 2023, Tehran 2024), as well as the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat (2017) and two Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku (2017) and Konya (2022).

In addition, Meredova holds national records of Turkmenistan in the indoor 60-metre dash (7.44 seconds) and the outdoor 100-metre dash (11.56 seconds). The latter was set on the 7^th of June, 2008, at the Gusman Kosanov Memorial in Almaty and has stood for 18 years.

At the 2026 Asian Games, Valentina competed in the first of four qualifying heats, from which the top 16 athletes advanced to the semi-finals. Despite demonstrating an excellent reaction time at the start (0.149 seconds) − comparable to that of the leaders − she nevertheless finished seventh in her heat with a time of 12.19 seconds. A time of 11.89 seconds or faster was required to advance to the semi-finals, and Meredova finished 24^th out of 28 competitors in the final standings.

17-year-old Chen Yujie of China won the gold medal in the sprint of the women with a new Asian Games record of 11.06 seconds. The silver medal went to Shanti Pereira of Singapore with a season-best time of 11.21 seconds, while Edidiong Odiong of Bahrain won the bronze with a time of 11.33 seconds.

In 100-metre sprint of the men, the qualifying round consisted of six heats. The top three athletes from each heat (18 in total) advanced directly to the semi-finals, while another six qualified based on the fastest times among the remaining competitors. 26-year-old Asian Games debutant Lukman Gurbandurdyyev lined up for the fourth heat. He recorded the second-fastest reaction time off the starting blocks (0.138 seconds), trailing Favoris Muzrapov of Tajikistan by just 0.001 seconds. However, at the finish, Lukman placed sixth with a time of 10.80 seconds. He failed to match his personal best (10.77 seconds), set on the 14^th of June, 2026, in Dushanbe at an open international tournament featuring prizes named after Olympic champions Andrey Abduvaliyev and Dilshod Nazarov. The qualifying time for the semi-finals was 10.59 seconds, and Gurbandurdyyev finished 33^rd out of 38 competitors. Like Valentina Meredova, Lukman ran the distance in a time meeting the candidate for master of sports standard under the national sports classification system.

The 2026 Asian Games sprint champion of the men was 20-year-old Puripol Boonson of Thailand, who won the final with a phenomenal time of 9.90 seconds, breaking the Asian Games record for the second time that evening (having clocked 9.91 seconds in the semi-finals just hours earlier). Ali Al-Balushi from Oman finished second with a personal best of 10.04 seconds, while the bronze medal went to his compatriot Malham Al-Balushi, who also set a personal best of 10.11 seconds.

The track and field program for Turkmen sprinters is not yet over: Lukman Gurbandurdyyev will compete in the 200-metre race, while Enejan Esedova is entered in the same event for women.

Meanwhile, competitions in other sports are also continuing at the 2026 Asian Games. Five athletes represented Turkmenistan at the boxing tournament held at the main sports complex in the city of Nishio (located about an hour's drive from central Nagoya), but all of them were eliminated in the preliminary round. The last to enter the ring was heavyweight Dovlet Islamov (weight category over 90 kg). In his opening bout against Myrzakir Koshaliyev of Kyrgyzstan, the Turkmen boxer fought all three rounds. Ultimately, only two judges (from Algeria and Jordan) awarded the victory to Islamov, while the judges from Mexico, Canada, and Bulgaria voted for his opponent, handing Koshaliyev a split-decision victory with a score of 3–2.

Turkmen swimmers, competing at the state-of-the-art Tokyo aquatics centre built for the Olympic Games, have also concluded their program at the Asian Games. Valeria Mirenskaya, David Akopyan, and Alan Muhin competed as part of the national team. On the final day, Mirenskaya (50m butterfly) and Akopyan (50m breaststroke) took to the starting blocks. Both athletes recorded the eighth-fastest reaction time off the starting block (0.73 seconds) among the 10 participants in their respective heats. Later, Valeria fell behind her rivals and finished tenth with a time of 31.09 seconds, placing 26^th overall out of 27.

Akopyan, on the other hand, managed to overcome a deficit during the race and touched the finish line first in his heat. However, the time he clocked (29.81 seconds) was not enough to secure a spot among the 12 finalists, and the 19-year-old protégé of coach Mark Pilyugin finished 29^th out of 40 competitors.

Kurash competitions at the Asian Games begin as early as 27^th of September. Turkmenistan will be represented by six wrestlers: Humay Jumadurdyyeva (up to 57 kg), as well as Sabina Kadyrova and Nurana Hezretova (both in the category up to 78 kg) will perform in the women's tournament; in the men's tournament, Hydyr Muhammedov (up to 66 kg), Ylyas Muhammedov (up to 66 kg) and Ahmet Charyyev (up to 81 kg) will compete on the mat. Three years ago, at the XIX Summer Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Turkmen kurash athletes won two bronze medals thanks to the successful performances of Aynur Amanova (under 48 kg) and Ishanmyrat Atayev (under 90 kg).