Second Day at Games: Futsal Matches, Tennis and Muaythai Tournaments

On the second day at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, futsal tournament continued and tennis and Muaythai competitions began.

The central court of the Olympic Village saw the Turkmen tennis player, Isa Mametgulyev, outpoint Bira Tebatibunga of Kiribati 6:2, 6:0 in two sets. Isa will now compete in the second round of the tournament.

Two more matches followed in women’s tennis. Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia and Ruby Coffin of Fiji will advance to the second round.

Six first single combats in Muaythai took place, and two athletes from Turkmenistan participated. In 81 kg weight class, Du An of PRC was no match for Dovletmyrat Guyjov. In quarterfinals our boxer will meet face to face with another Chinese athlete, Luo Can, who defeated Farid Bahar of Afghanistan with a minimal difference.

In Muaythai 60 kg weight class, our athlete Maksatmyrat Aliev forfeited the fight to Ahmed Al-Saedi of Iraq with a minimal difference and final score 27:30, thus dropping out of the tournament.

Competitions in Muaythai will continue tomorrow, and athletes of our national team will compete to enter the quarterfinals.

In women’s futsal, second day defined the teams’ group standings and revealed the potential semifinalists.

Turkmenistan’s women’s futsal team conceded to the PRC national team 3:1. The tournament continues for our team, and they will now face the Group A leaders, Japan. Futsal players from the Land of the Rising Sun outpointed the Hong Kong team 3:2 gaining a total of 6 points and securing the top position in the group. The winner in the match between PRC and Hong Kong will proceed to the semifinals.

Both semifinalists have been defined in Group B, and now Thailand and IRI will meet face to face to occupy the first place in the group.

It is worth reminding that by the end of the first day the Turkmen national team was leading the medal count with the total of 37 medals, including 16 gold. The closest contenders are Uzbekistan with 13 medals including 2 gold, and Thailand with 7 medals (2 gold).

Tomorrow, 18 September, athletes will continue competing in tennis, Muaythai and futsal. Medal sets will be drawn in indoor athletics, ju jitsu, taekwondo, track cycling, traditional wrestling and weightlifting.