The Games “Ashgabat 2017” will be forever recorded in history of Fijian sports as the first Asian games with the participation of the national team of this oceanic country.  On 12 September, a team of 40 athletes will head to the capital of Turkmenistan, united by the desire to do their best at the international sports event of this level.  The special hopes are placed on the gold medalists of the recent Commonwealth and Oceania Weightlifting Championship Apolonia Vaivai, Eileen Cikamatana...

Asian powerhouse China will arrive at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games intent on making a major impact as their 202-strong team of athletes continues to settle in Ashgabat.  The Chinese were the dominant force at the last Games held in the South Korean city of Incheon in 2013, scooping up 29 gold medals as well as 13 silver and 10 bronze to claim a total of 52 medals.  China were the leading nation in the pool as the country claimed 14 gold medals in the Short Course Swimming, w...

Bahrain taekwondo group are ready to perform in the arena of the 5th Asian Games in enclosed spaces and in martial arts, to officially start in less than ten days.  In this version of the Korean martial art on behalf of the smallest Arab nation, female trio – Wala’a Al-Dossari, sisters Juana and Jomana Mohammed – will compete in weight categories under 57 kg, 62 kg and 73 kg respectively. They have been trained by coach Tawfeeq Nuwaiser.  In Ashgabat 2017 Taekwondo competitions will be fea...

The Olympic Village hosted the flag raising ceremony for another several dozens of nations whose delegations have already arrived in the Turkmen capital to take part in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.  The ceremony began after the welcoming address by the senior executives of the National Olympic Committee of Turkmenistan. The Bhutan team was honored to be the first nation to raise its flag. Then the flag of Oman soared up above the Olympic complex. The flag of the national team...

Uzbekistan’s Taekwondo fighters will be setting their sights on making a major impact at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat as the country aims to further establish itself among the sport’s elite.  The event gets underway on Sunday at the Ashgabat Olympic Complex with a glittering Opening Ceremony that will officially herald Turkmenistan’s entry into the world of hosting major sporting events, and Taekwondo is expected to be a blue chip event.  And will give Uzbekistan...

While the men's national Wrestling team train on the mats at a gym in the suburbs of Ashgabat, the women’s team are pumping iron on the weight machines beside them as they enter the final days of preparation for the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, the biggest event of their lives. The women are relatively inexperienced and some have only competed at the regional level, but they are not daunted by the task of trying to do their country proud at Ashgabat 2017 which gets underway with t...

We’re just days away from the start of the Ashgabat 2017 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, the biggest sporting event to ever come to Central Asia. With well over 6,000 athletes and team officials on hand to represent 65 delegations from across Asia and Oceania, all set to compete in 21 sports over the course of 12 days of events, Ashgabat 2017 is truly a monumental undertaking and a momentous occasion for Turkmenistan and the city of Ashgabat.  A sporting event the size of Ashgabat 20...