Central Asian Boxers Poised for Olympic Medals This Week

Mark your calendars: boxers from Central Asia are going for gold in Paris. On Wednesday, Kazakh boxer Nurbek Oralbay will fight for Olympic gold in the 80-kilogram class final. Then, on Friday, Lazizbek Mullojonov of Uzbekistan will do the same in the 92-kilogram final. Kazakhstan’s Oralbay, 24, defeated Dominican boxer Christian Pinales in a 3-2 decision on Sunday and will face Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine in the middleweight final on Aug. 7. Oralbay’s twin brother, Aibek, is also a boxer. He competed in the 92-kilogram class at this year’s Olympics but lost in the quarterfinals. “Their father, a former freestyle wrestler, wanted Nurbek and his brother to follow in his footsteps,” olympics.com reported. “But money was tight at home and boxing coach Askar Yerkebayev (KAZ) offered to train the boys in boxing for free, saying he had a dream to take twins to the world championships - and their father agreed.” The Olympics Games website also reported that Nurbek once pretended to be Aibek in a bout because Aibek was ill. It didn’t offer more details on that subterfuge. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s Mullojonov is up against Loren Alfonso of Azerbaijan in the Aug. 9 heavyweight final. Mullojonov, 25, defeated Tajikistan’s Davlat Boltaev in the semifinal on Sunday, and the Tajik boxer gets a bronze medal. Mullojonov, who comes from Uzbekistan’s Ferghana region, was a super heavyweight gold medalist at the 2022 Asian Championships. -- They call him “The Big Uzbek.” Another Central Asian boxer to watch in Paris this week is Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov, who competes against Nelvie Raman Tiafack of Germany in a semifinal of the 92-kilogram-plus class on Aug. 7. Jalolov, 30, is a defending champion. He was the super heavyweight champion at the Tokyo games in 2021. He has said he wants to become a professional boxer. -- Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan brought home silver in the men’s pommel horse, the first Olympic medal in gymnastics for the Central Asian country. “20 years of hard work, 35 seconds on the Olympic podium. And now - History!” Kurbanov, 26, said on Instagram. Kurbanov scored 15.433 on Saturday, just falling short of Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan, whose score of 15.533 propelled him to gold. The road to Olympic success has indeed been arduous for Kurbanov, whose father got him into the sport when he was a young boy. "I had no other choice. My father is a gymnastics coach. He brought me into the gym literally from the cradle. At first, I just ran there, jumped, fooled around. But at the age of five my dad began to train me professionally," Kurbanov said, according to the International Gymnastics Federation. Kurbanov had failed to qualify as an apparatus specialist for the last Olympic Games in Tokyo. -- Veteran sprinter Valentina Meredova of Turkmenistan has competed in Paris, 16 years after making her Olympic debut in Beijing. The 39-year-old ran a 12:01 in the preliminary round of the 100 meters on Friday, finishing fourth in her group and advancing to the next round....

Central Asia Picks Up Golds as Olympics Near Second Week

Diyora Keldiyorova, who became Uzbekistan’s first Olympic champion in judo, says she has an even bigger goal. “To change the life of women in Uzbekistan is my mission,” Keldiyorova said, according to the International Judo Federation. The Uzbek sensation spoke after her victory in the 52-kilogram class at the Paris Olympics on July 28. It was an extraordinary achievement for an athlete from a country without much of a tradition in women’s judo. On her way to gold, Keldiyorova defeated Uta Abe, the gold medalist at the last Olympics in Tokyo and a four-time world champion. The Uzbek’s win over Abe “may very well be remembered as one of the biggest upsets of these Olympic Games,” olympics.com reported. Abe was distraught after the defeat. Among those congratulating Keldiyorova was Timothy Smart, Britain’s ambassador to Uzbekistan. He said “it is a medal which shows all girls in Uzbekistan, that they can achieve anything they want!” “Olgʻa, Oʻzbekiston!” Smart said - Let´s go, Uzbekistan. -- Another gold medalist in judo from Central Asia was Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov, who defeated home favorite Luka Mkheidze of France in the 60-kilogram class final. Smetov, 31, won silver at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and Kazakhstan put him on a postage stamp to celebrate. Then he won bronze in 2021 at the Tokyo games, which were delayed from the previous year because of the pandemic. [caption id="attachment_21130" align="aligncenter" width="221"] Yeldos Smetov; image: Post of Kazakhstan[/caption] “Nothing is impossible,” Smetov said after winning gold in Paris, according to Kazakhstan’s Olympic committee. “I achieved this goal on the third attempt.” Smetov, who has been performing at a world-class level for many years, attributed the longevity of his career to family and knowing the limits of his body. “After each competition, I spend all my time with my family, not thinking about sport. I am also careful with the bigger injuries; I never go back to competition until fully recovered. A lot of rest is necessary especially when a career is this long," Smetov, who has five children, told the International Judo Federation. “The first day of this Olympic Games brought my gold for Kazakhstan and the second brought Diyora’s gold for Uzbekistan, so this is already an incredible games for Central Asia," Smetov said. -- The Paris games were a disappointment for one of the world’s top tennis players, Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, though. Russia-born Bublik lost 4-6, 4-6 to Taylor Fritz of the United States in the first round of the singles. He and his partner, Aleksandr Nedovyesov, fell by the same score in the first round of the doubles to the Brazilians, Thiago Monteiro and Thiago Seyboth Wild. “It was an honor to represent Kazakhstan at the Olympics once again,” Bublik said on Instagram. He is currently ranked 25th in the world. Another Kazakh tennis star, world No. 4 Elena Rybakina, had said just before the games that she was sick and would not participate. “After the Wimbledon tournament, I fell ill...