Central Asia's five sporting champions
A competition promoted by the respective broadcasters chose the most representative athletes from each of the five countries. From the judoka rejected by the Russians who climbed onto the podium at the Olympics for Tajikistan to the Uzbek footballer who plays in the Premier League and led his national team to World Cup qualification. And the Kazakh who discovered he was a marathon runner after an illness.
Astana (AsiaNews) - The ‘Heroes of Central Asian Sport’ competition, supported by the editorial offices of Radio Svoboda's Azattlyk in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Azatlyk in Turkmenistan, Ozodlik in Uzbekistan and Ozodi in Tajikistan, began in October 2024 with the aim of giving due recognition to athletes who have achieved significant success despite the many difficulties of social expectations, cultural taboos and physical and social challenges to overcome.
There were many candidates, and the editorial teams finally presented the profiles of five athletes who had overcome great difficulties and achieved important results. The winners were chosen according to criteria of social impact, votes by sports journalists, public opinion and the editorial teams themselves, selecting one representative from each of the five Central Asian countries as examples of great strength and determination for those seeking to overcome life's difficulties.
The winner for Kazakhstan is Dosmukhamed Tulegenov, a resident of the village of Arkarly in the Žetysu region, who was diagnosed with a very serious neurological disease caused by a brain tumour 34 years ago. For ten years, he remained bedridden, alone, in pain and despair, wishing only to die, but he stayed alive to be with his three children. With a grade II disability, he could neither read nor watch television, nor even sit up, but after ten years he decided to take a step forward, recovering little by little. He went from walking to running, “rediscovering freedom”, as he himself says, until he tried his hand at marathons. Today, Dosmukhamed is 62 years old and lives in his village with his wife, after more than 40 years of marriage, his children and grandchildren who follow him and accompany him in races throughout Kazakhstan, where he is considered one of the best long-distance runners.
The Kyrgyz champion is 41-year-old Gulnat Žuzbaeva, who from an early age dreamed of seeing Paris, where she finally arrived not as a tourist but as a Paralympic athlete, achieving a victory that inspired all disabled people in Kyrgyzstan. Having lost her sight as a child, she nevertheless managed to finish school and university before founding the Kyrgyz Union of the Blind, training over 200 blind people to live independently, including reading and using computers freely. In Paris, she ran the 1,500 metres on the banks of the Seine, finishing 13th and setting a national record, after winning silver and bronze medals at the Asian Paralympic Games.
26-year-old Somon Makhmadbekov was born in the Russian city of Irkutsk in Siberia, but the Russians did not allow him to compete because his parents did not have Russian citizenship. Returning to Tajikistan, he obtained a passport and began to proudly represent his family's native country, winning many medals in judo and earning the trust of his compatriots, culminating in Olympic bronze in Paris in 2024.
Turkmen Murad Kurbanov has a 6th dan in the Japanese martial art of Aikido, a symbol of peaceful opposition, and was forced to leave his country in 2005 for criticising injustices, losing his home, job and loved ones, and ending up working as a labourer on a construction site in France. Thanks to his martial arts training, he did not lose control or harmony, and managed to set up a security company based on these principles. Today, at the age of 59, he believes that Aikido not only helped him achieve success, but also saved his life.
Uzbek Abdukodir Khusanov, nicknamed “The Train” for his speed, was the first Central Asian footballer to play in the Premier League, signing a contract with Manchester City in 2025 for £41 million and becoming a legend for Uzbekistan and the entire region. After being rejected by the top teams in his homeland, he played in Belarus, then in France in the lower leagues, until he achieved glory in England, becoming a symbol of the new era of Uzbek football, the first Central Asian country to participate in the World Cup in 2026 in America.
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24/08/2021 15:14
09/12/2017 10:04
