Ashgabat 2017 Daily Recap: 16 September - Day -1
The first day of competition at the Ashgabat 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games saw medal events in Ju Jitsu and Traditional Wrestling, as well as round one competition in men’s and women's futsal.
The host nation Turkmenistan began the competition with a hugely impressive effort, taking the bulk of the medals in both Ju Jitsu and Traditional Wrestling to finish the day with a total of 37 medals, including 16 golds. Next-best on the medal table through day one was Uzbekistan, with 13 medals.
Ju Jitsu
Day one of Ju Jitsu competition got things off to a fantastic start for the Turkmen squad as the host team scored their first Ashgabat 2017 gold medal in one of the very first events of the Games, with Jelilmuhammed Hojamuradov and Murad Gimmiyev taking the win in men’s Duo Classic competition. By the end of the day, the Turkmen Ju Jitsu athletes would take home a total of 13 medals from Saturday’s matches at the Ashgabat Martial Arts Centre, including six golds.
Traditional Wrestling
One of the fan-favourite competitions for the local Turkmen spectators opened Ashgabat 2017 competition on a thrilling note on Saturday, with the host nation dominating Traditional Wrestling Freestyle competition at the Main Indoor Arena. When it was all said and done, the Turkmen Traditional Wrestlers would take 24 medals on the first day of competition, including 10 golds.
Uzbekistan would be the only other nation to register any kind of notable success in the ring, managing to reach double-digits on their medal quest with a good balance of success from both their men’s and women’s squads. Their end tally for Traditional Wrestling competition on Saturday would be 12 medals, including two golds.
Futsal
Futsal competition at Ashgabat 2017 opened on Saturday with first-round competition for both the men and women. Scores in general were somewhat lopsided, as can be expected in the first round of a lengthy tournament, but the 16-1 drubbing of Palestine by the powerhouse squad from the Islamic Republic of Iran in women’s competition was especially notable.
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Afghanistan put together one of the more impressive efforts of the day, easily handing the People’s Republic of China a 6-1 defeat.
