Manama, Bahrain, October 19, 2025: Uzbekistan duo Durdona Tursunova and Otabek Yuldashboev won the first two gold medals at the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain as they swept the floor in the kurash competition on Sunday, October 19.
Durdona won the gold medal in the Girls’ -70kg category and this was followed by Otabek winning the plum prize in the Boys’ -65 division to underline Uzbekistan’s proud claim to being the country that gave the world kurash – a martial art akin to judo.
Kurash was making its debut at the Asian Youth Games and much to the delight of Mohamad Reza Nassiri, General Secretary of the International Kurash Association, 14 National Olympic Committees had entered athletes in the four weight categories – two for boys and two for girls.
“I’m very happy with the response. We are thankful to the Olympic Council of Asia and the Bahrain organisers for including our sport in the programme at the last minute. Even so the response was great, and I’m sure if there was more time, we would have been able to get more countries participating,” said Iranian Nassiri.
“Kurash was at the last two Asian Games, in Jakarta and Hangzhou, but this is the first time at the Youth Games, and we are happy that young talent across Asia is taking up the sport,” Nassiri added.
Nassiri lives in Tashkent where the IKA is headquartered – once again being close to the power centre of the world of kurash.
And this dominance was underlined at the Exhibition World Bahrain venue as Uzbekistan ruled supreme.
Durdona, 17, defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Saniet Talaibekova in the gold medal final, winning by ‘Khalol’ – throwing her opponent on her back with full control, force and speed – and registering a 10-0 victory.
In the boys’ gold medal match, Otabek defeated Iranian Yousef Baghchighi by ‘Chala’ – the third and lowest of three scoring methods – to win 2-0.
Ahmed Abdulghaffar, Chief Operating Officer of Bahrain Asian Youth Games, who officiated along with Nassiri during the prize presentation ceremony, said: “We are very happy that we got kurash in. The key is in the Asian spirit of coming together, and we had 14 NOCs taking part. Even Bahrain has an athlete in kurash.”
But everyone was no match for the Uzbeks. With a history of several thousands of years of practising this martial art, they were simply the best.
source Bahrain AYG
