Turkmen athletes finished their participation in the 20th Asian Games with two silver medals. The Games were held for two weeks in the city of Nagoya, the administrative center of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture.
The first silver medal for the national team was won by karate athlete Davut Nazmyradov, who competed in the up to 75 kg weight category. In the final bout, he lost to Iranian athlete Morteza Nemati by a score of 3–4. The second silver medal was won by weightlifter Shakhzadbek Matyakubov in the up to 110 kg category with a combined total of 410 kg in the two lifts (188 kg in the snatch and 222 kg in the clean and jerk). He lost only to Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan, who set a world record in the snatch (197 kg) and two Asian Games records – in the clean and jerk (226 kg) and the combined total (423 kg).
On the final day of the wrestling competitions, 25-year-old Master of Sport Shatlyk Hemelyayev (up to 97 kg) came close to winning a bronze medal. In the quarterfinals, he lost 0–10 to 24-year-old Iranian Amirali Azarpira, the 2025 world champion and bronze medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, who ultimately became the Asian Games champion. Then, in the repechage, Shatlyk secured an early 12–0 victory over Pakistan’s Muhammad Gulzar just 57 seconds after the start of the bout. However, in the bronze-medal match, he lost 1–12 to Japan’s Arash Yoshida, a three-time Asian champion and bronze medalist at the 2025 World Championships, finishing just short of the podium.
In the overall medal standings, the Turkmenistan national team placed 31st among the 40 countries that won medals. Approximately 10,800 athletes from 45 countries and a refugee team took part in the Nagoya Games, competing for 469 sets of medals across 71 disciplines in 43 sports. The Turkmenistan delegation consisted of 57 people, including 35 athletes competing in eight sports: boxing, wrestling, karate, kurash, athletics, swimming, weightlifting, and wushu.
At the previous Asian Games, held in Hangzhou, China, in 2023, the Turkmenistan delegation consisted of 104 people, including 67 athletes competing in 11 sports – 3x3 basketball, boxing, wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman), jiu-jitsu, judo, kurash, karate, athletics, swimming, weightlifting, and wushu. At those Games, Turkmen athletes brought home six bronze medals, won by Maysa Pardayeva (judo, up to 57 kg), Aynur Amanova (kurash, up to 48 kg), Ishanmyrat Atayev (kurash, up to 90 kg), Bayramdurdy Nurmuhammedov (boxing, up to 71 kg), Dovletmyrat Orazgylyjov (freestyle wrestling, up to 86 kg), and Bayry Bayryev (karate, up to 67 kg).
Since 1994, Turkmen athletes have competed as an independent team at the Asian Summer Games for the ninth time. Over the years of participation, the country’s athletes have won 31 medals: 3 gold, 10 silver, and 18 bronze. The first gold medal in the history of independent Turkmenistan was won at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima by legendary weightlifter Altymyrat Orazdurdyyev in the up to 76 kg category. Two more gold medals were won by shooter Igor Pirekeyev: in 1998 in Bangkok in the 50-meter prone small-bore rifle event, and in 2002 in Busan in the 50-meter rifle three-position event – kneeling, standing, and prone.
The next, 21st Asian Games will be held in Doha, Qatar, in 2030.
