Over 240 athletes representing 50 countries have arrived in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, to participate in the XIV World Kurash Championship. The championship will be hosted in the Olympic city of Ashgabat, the official press of Turkmenistan reported on Friday.
Wrestlers from Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Kuwait, UAE, India, Iraq, Iran, Colombia, Romania, Mexico, and Zimbabwe have arrived in Ashgabat to participate in competitions held at the Olympic City Martial Arts Sports Complex.
Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov has sent a congratulatory message to the participants of the World Kurash Championship. In his letter, he expressed sincere congratulations on the commencement of the championship, jointly organised by the International Kurash Association and hosted on the hospitable Turkmen land. The president conveyed his warm wishes to all the tournament participants in his congratulatory letter.
As reported in the news, the wrestlers from the national team of Turkmenistan and representatives from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan have expressed their determination to secure victories in their respective competitions.
During the World Championships at the Martial Arts Sports Complex within the Olympic Campus, there are plans to award 15 sets of medals in each of the seven men's weight categories and eight women's weight categories.
Kurash is a traditional belt wrestling of Turkic people originating in Central Asia.This martial art has a three-thousand-year history, which has made it one of the most popular sports in the region.
In recent years Kurash has been actively developing all over the world, and today the International Kurash Association (IKA), formed on September 6, 1998, includes 118 national federations from Asia (32), Africa (22), Europe (33), North and South America (22) and Oceania (9).