Today, at the martial arts complex of the Olympic town of Ashgabat, with the participation of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, an award ceremony was held for the Turkmen athlete Yulduz Jumabayeva, the winner of the highest dignity award at the World Weightlifting Championship in the weight category up to 45 kg, held in November 2018 in Ashgabat. This was reported by the “Vatan” news program of the Turkmen television.

As “Turkmenportal” has already reported, Tunya Sukcharoen from Thailand initially won gold in this weight category. Later, the Thai athlete was disqualified and deprived of a medal for violating anti-doping rules, which became known after rechecking the samples of athletes who performed at the 2018 World Cup in Ashgabat.

Thus, following the revision of the results by the International Weightlifting Federation, Yulduz Jumabayeva has a silver medal (in snatch - 75 kg) and two gold medals with world records among juniors in jerk (104 kg) and combined double-event (179 kg). The last two awards were presented today.

Presenting Y.Jumabayeva two gold medals for the results in the point and total of the double event, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that this is a brilliant victory of the Turkmen athlete. It is the result of an unprecedented state policy aimed at developing mass physical education in our country, promoting the principles of a healthy lifestyle and attracting people to regular sports.

Addressing the audience, the leader of the nation noted that there are many wonderful pages in the history of national sports. Speaking about this, the head of Turkmenistan cited as vivid examples of the famous weightlifter, three-time world and European champion, Asian champion Altymurad Orazdurdyev and the outstanding, most famous athlete of his time, Olympic silver medalist, multiple world and European record holder in bullet shooting Marat Niyazov.

“They are our best athletes, role models,” Berdimuhamedov said.

As the head of state further emphasized, it is a matter of pride that today the traditions of Turkmen sports continue to develop and enrich themselves with new content. Our young athletes continue the victorious path of the older generation with dignity. Achieving outstanding results in various competitions, hoisting the Flag of our beloved Motherland in the sky, they protect the sporting honor of Turkmenistan. And one of them is Yulduz Jumabayeva, who was awarded a gold medal.

The ceremony was also attended by the President of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Michael Irani and the Secretary General of the IWF, the First Vice-President of the Asian Weightlifting Federation Mohammed Jalud.

Noting that the victory at the 2018 World Cup Yulduz Jumabayeva became a matter of pride for the Turkmen people, the IWF President cordially congratulated everyone on the announcement of our compatriot as the world champion.