The news outlet Jakarta Globe reports that the Olympic Council of Asia has disqualified Rustem Nazarov of Turkmenistan’s national team from the 2018 Asian Games after the wrestler failed a doping test.
The wrestler was found to have used furosemide, which is not a banned substance but is a known masking agent.The medication is also banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
This is the first confirmed case of doping at the Asian Games held in Jakarta.
The pre-competition test was conducted on 17 August. The wrestler went beaten by a contester from India on 19 August.
According to the website “Gundogar”, the wrestlers completed their competition program on 22 August.
Turkmenistan’s national team in various weight categories was represented by 10 wrestlers: Sokhbet Belliev, Suleyman Belliev, Batyr Bordzhakov, Azat Gadzhiev, Rustem Nazarov, Dovletmurad Orazklychev, Shikhazberdy Ovelekov, Shermet Permanov, Ziyamukhammed Saparov and Seidulla Tazayev.
The news outlet reports that the team has performed rather poorly.Only B.Bordzhakov and Sh.Permanov managed to win twice each.However, these victories did not bring them any medals as they lost in the final contest.
Sh.Ovelekov won in two fights and became a bronze medalist.The other athletes dropped out of the Games at earlier stages after the first defeat.
As of today Turkmenistan has won three medals and ranks 25 out of 31 countries.
Kristina Shermetova won a silver medal in the women’s 53-kilogram weight lifting event and two bronze medals were awarded to Kemal Meredov in the men’s 56-kilogram jiu jitsu and Shkhazberdy Ovelekov in the men’s 87-kilogram Greco-Roman event.
China is at the top of the rating with 148 medals (71 gold, 48 silver and 29 bronze medals). Turkmenistan’s neighbours Uzbekistan (5 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals) and Kazakhstan (3 gold, 7 silver and 24 bronze medals) rank 10th and 11th respectively.
It should be mentioned that the results of Turkmenistan’s national team in the Asian Games held in Jakarta are in sharp contrast with the results of V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which were held in 2017 in Ashgabat.
In their home country the athletes held the record by a wide margin winning 245 medals whereas the closest contender China’s team took home only 97 medals.