Ashgabat 2017: Day Four

It was another big day of competition on Tuesday at the Ashgabat 2017 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, with 11 sports on the daily docket and medal events contested in half of those events – Belt Wrestling, Indoor Athletics, Ju Jitsu, Taekwondo, Track Cycling and Weightlifting. Three events – Belt Wrestling, 3x3 Basketball, and Billard Sport – made their Ashgabat 2017 Games debut. 

Preliminary round action was ongoing in 3x3 Basketball, Billiard Sports, Futsal, Indoor Tennis, and Muaythai.

Host nation Turkmenistan maintained its massive lead on the Ashgabat 2017 medal rankings on Tuesday, finishing the day of competition on with 89 medals – including an incredible 43 golds. With another dominant day in the wrestling ring seeing the Turkmen Belt Wrestlers take 13 of the 14 gold medals up for grabs in the Freestyle category, a magical Ashgabat 2017 continues for the Turkmen team.

Tuesday’s Indoor Athletics action saw some big names deliver exactly as advertised, with London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Olga Rypakova (KAZ) earning her second Ashgabat 2017 gold in two days with ease in the triple jump, and London 2017 World Championships bronze medallist Abdalelah Haroun A Hassan of Qatar setting a Games record in the 400m with a time of 45.68.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s Viktoriya Zyabkina and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Hassan Taftian walked away from Ashgabat 2017 competition crowned as the fastest women and man, respectively, after taking spots in the 60m sprint. Hassan’s medal was one of several on the day for IR Iran, and they sit second on the medal table with 29 medals. 

Kazakhstan, with 22 medals, finds themselves ranked third overall after Tuesday’s competitions.