On 27 September the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, where Turkmenistan won the overall medal ranking by a big margin, came to a close.
Bairam Shikhmuradov is the editor-in-chief of the website “Gundogar”.
“Chronicles of Turkmenistan” had a conversation about the Games with the former manager of Turkmenistan’s national soccer team and now editor-in-chief of the news outlet “Gundogar” Bairam Shikhmuradov who kindly agreed to answer our questions.
What are the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games? Are they linked to IOC and how prestigious are they for athletes?
The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in its current format have been held by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) since 2013.Before, separate Martial Arts contests had been held, but the experience turned out to be negative owing to limited interest on the part of the spectators and consequently a low commercial appeal of the project which created big problems for the organizers in finding a venue for hosting the contests.
At that time the Asian Indoor Games had been held every two years but they also did not enjoy any popularity and did not generate any revenue.Then a decision was made to merge the Indoor Games with the Martial Arts contests, to be held every four years and to include select Olympic sports in the Games agenda.
Previously the Olympic sports had not been included in the Asian Games and Martial Arts Games agenda and this was one of the goals behind its establishment to foster and promote the sports which do not get the attention of the International Olympic Committee, television, advertisers etc.
Despite all efforts undertaken by OCA, for a long time they failed to find a country willing to host the first united 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Then a decision was made to hold the tournament in the South Korean city of Incheon, which was getting ready to host the “big” Asian Games-2014 and the organizers needed to hold trial contests a year before the event to test their readiness.
They did not have to build any sports facilities since the infrastructure was already available and this is how considerable expenditure was avoided.
Turkmenistan volunteered to host the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2017, ridding the OCA from a major headache. However, the OCA is experiencing problems with the 2021 Games it is not yet known where they will be held or whether they will take place at all.
The prestige of the Games is ensured by the athletes rather than the size of a horse’s head overlooking the stadium.The higher the level and status of the participants, the tougher the sports competition, and the higher profile of the event.
The majority of leading athletes from China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Iran and Kazakhstan did not come to Ashgabat for various excuses.The medals won by Turkmen athletes in the absence of serious rivals are, alas, not that valuable.
Why did Ashgabat need to host these Games? Did Ashgabat have any competitors?
Ashgabat had no competitors. Hosting the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is a costly and unprofitable initiative. There was no one willing to waste money, even among the notorious “Arab sheiks” who are allegedly credited with thoughtless extravagance. In fact, the Turkmen President outdid them all.
Turkmenistan needed these Games to allow Berdymukhammedov and his immediate environment to go fishing in troubled water.At the same time, it was them who muddied the water by organizing an ambitious razzle-dazzle based on a mediocre sports event.
There is nothing wrong about the Games themselves had they not been turned into one hell of a thing.
Turkmenistan’s national team won the Games leading in medal standing by a huge margin. At the same time our athletes cannot brag about serious accomplishments in the world sports arena. We do not have a single Olympic medal. How can this difference in results be explained?
It can be explained by the lack of sports rivalry and the Games agenda specially compiled to allow Turkmenistan to have a landslide victory. Turkmenistan’s team at the Ashgabat Games is like an elusive person who escapes as no one needs him.
Following tradition, Turkmen athletes performed miserably in sports where there was no rivalry or serious contenders.Turkmenistan did not rank in the top three in weightlifting, freestyle and classical wrestling, and scored at least something owing to the small number of participants from other countries.
We won no medals in swimming, taekwondo and just one bronze medal with a very low score in track and field thanks to the disqualification of contenders.
On the other hand, the Turkmen team had a triumph in sports with no rivals! Out of 245 medals Turkmenistan’s national team won over 200 medals in goresh, kurash, alyshe and other kinds of wrestling, which are difficult for a layperson to distinguish one from another.
Turkmenistan wins in the sports where there are no rivals. This does not happen in serious competitions and therefore there are no medals.
Do you follow our athletes at the Asian Games or other international sports events? How would you evaluate the professional level of Turkmen athletes?
Speaking about sports which are included in the program of the Olympic Games, there are a few athletes in Turkmenistan capable of demonstrating skilled performance at the international event in judo, boxing and weightlifting.
Representatives of Turkmenistan mostly demonstrate extremely low results and this is in no way the fault of the athletes.They run as fast as they can and sometimes even faster, but it is not enough.
It is interesting for me to watch the Turkmen athletes perform.I used to know many of them personally and now they have become coaches and managers.
I wish all of them success and patience.They are the last generation which links the past of the Turkmen sports with its future.If they are gone, only belt wresting will remain in a best case scenario.
President Berdymukhammedov is promoting sports and healthy lifestyle: he works out in the gym and rides a bicycle.Sports arenas and stadiums are being built.
Why aren’t these measures efficient and why does the qualification of our athletes remain quite low?Can you give recommendations to the authorities as to what they should primarily pay attention to if they seek to bring qualifying athletes to world class level?
There are no miracles in sport.It is impossible to start winning all of a sudden at the wish of the President and efforts of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Turkmenistan used to have its own sports history and sports traditions.However, this was no longer needed after the country gained independence.The efforts undertaken by select enthusiasts, who can be counted on one hand, are not enough to foster the interest of the authorities and of society.
As a result, the system of children’s sport school collapsed, high performance sport was deprived of funding and sports medicine was left behind.The coaches left, the athletes gave up trainings and are employed on construction sites or as security guards in restaurants.
Now the President has allegedly changed his mind, rushed to build stadiums and ride a bicycle, which can only make you smile sadly or make holes in the budget.
Conditions should be created to ensure that athletes train hard every day rather than pay huge amounts of money to UK or Italian producers to support the crazy vanity projects of the Turkmen President.
In fact, it is not the authorities that should bring the qualification of athletes into line with world standards.Coaches, doctors, sports managers and sports officials should be engaged in this and only in the art which regards the logistic support of professionals’ performance.
Speaking about propaganda, it is much more important to provide conditions for sports journalists to work rather than all day long broadcasts on television by a weird looking man wearing preposterous green sportswear and sunglasses which cost 30 thousand dollars.
The main advantage of hosting AIMAG in Ashgabat is that the athletes were in the spotlight for some time.They had foreign hired coaches, they had the opportunity to choose the conditions for their sports trainings, were provided with sports outfits, had their trips paid and even received some remuneration.
If this continues, it can be said that the Asian Games were held for a reason.It has still very far to go to be in line with the world sports standards, but a step in the right direction has been taken.
According to official data, Turkmenistan spent over $5 billion to construct the Olympic village. Will this investment pay back some day? What will happen to the infrastructure after the Games are closed? Is Turkmenistan capable of hosting other international championships where these facilities might be used?
These costs will never be repaid as this is impossible.The Olympic village will be operational as long as the authorities will allocate funds to maintain it.
Later it will start falling apart and follow the fate of the Olympic objects in Sarajevo, Athens, Beijing, Sochi, Rio-de-Janeiro and other places, where the facilities had been built exclusively for overseas visitors and the joy of local elite the guests are gone and dilapidated stadiums are left.
The situation is much worse in Ashgabat as there were no visitors except numerous hired personnel and dependants who for several years subsisted around the sacred Asian Games at the expense of slow-witted hosts.
Needless to say, we can host the contests but only those which are not needed like the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Who will want to hold commercial sports events behind a high fence? This will never happen under the current Turkmen order.