DUSHANBE, February 27, Asia-Plus -- 112 athletes from 12 Tajik sports clubs have taken part in an armwrestling tournament in Dushanbe.

We will recall that the tournament was held on February 24-25 to mark the fifth anniversary of the establishment of Tajikistan’s ArmSports Association.

The association president Nadirkhan Darigi said in an interview with Asia-Plus that a team of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) had topped the tournament participants in terms of the number of medals won in the competitions.  “The MoI athletes were followed by teams of the Ministry of Defense (MoD)  and the Dushanbe Sports Complex,” Darigi said.  

Representative from the Central Sports Club of Army (team of a MoD) Tohir Tohirov won gold medal in a –100 kg category, beating Fakhriddin Ochilov, who is also member of the MoD team.  Champion of the Asian Games  2005 Akmal Qodirov from Khujand finished third in the absolute weight category.   

According to Darigi, the republican armwrestling championships will be held in Khujand in late March.  

Participants of a February 24-25 tournament competed in nine men’s weight categories and seven women’s weight categories.  Sportsmen from the country’s power-wielding structures, Dushanbe higher educational institutions, sports clubs and federations participated in the competitions.

Sponsors of the tournament were Babilon-T and Romsar.  Sponsors’ representative also took part in the competitions.  Representative from Babilon-T Nazem Darigi won the gold medal in a –55 kg category.