DUSHANBE, May 12, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik athletes have won three medals in the XVII USA Open Sambo Championship, according to the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan.

Organized by the American Amateur Sambo Federation, the championship was held among cadets, juniors, seniors and masters.

“Tajik young athlete Anoush Zafarzoda won gold medal in his weight category among young athletes aged 15-16,” said the source.  “Another Tajik athlete, Azam Khokiroyev, won gold in the weight category of 74 kilograms among adults.  Besides, Zuhur Nourmahmadov won silver gold, finishing second in his weight category among adults.”

In all, six athletes from Tajikistan participated in the XVII USA Open Sambo Championship that took place in New Jersey on May 2, the source added. 

In the meantime, Tajik judokas participating in the Tunis Judo Grand Prix failed to show good results

We will recall that two Tajik athletes – Olympic medalist Rasoul Boqiyev (-73 kg category) and Abubakr Rahmonov (-100 kg+ category) – took part in the 28th edition of the Tunis Judo Grand Prix on May 7-8.  Organized by the Tunisian Judo Federation (TJF), this 150 thousand-dollar tournament hosted by Tunisia was one of the qualifying tournaments for the 2012 London Olympics.  Some 53 countries were represented in this tournament.  Several Olympic and world champions such as 2009 world champions Georgii Zantaraia (under 60kg) and Kazakhstan''s Maxim Rakov (under 100kg), 2008 Olympic champion German Ole Bishof (under 81kg), and 2008 Olympic champion Romanian Alina Dumitru (under 48kg) are also taking part in this tournament,

“Rasoul Boqiyev defeated the Azeri athlete Alim Gasimov in the first fighting but lost to the Belgium judoka in the second fighting,” said the source at Tajikistan’s national Olympic Committee (NCO), “Abubakr Rahmonov lost to the athlete from Slovenia in his first fighting.”