ASTANA – With 44 medals, Kazakhstan is currently in 10th place at the 18th Asian Games. At the end of day ten, the country’s athletes have collected seven gold, eight silver and 29 bronze medals.
Dayana Abdirbekova, Alina Adilkhanova and Adilya Tlekenova. Photo credit: sports.kz.
The games are taking place Aug. 18-Sept. 2 in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
Fencer Dmitriy Alexanin brought Kazakhstan its first gold, beating current Olympic champion Park Sang-young of South Korea Aug. 19 in the men’s epee individual final.
Cyclist Alexey Lutsenko grabbed the country’s second gold medal four days later in the individual men’s cycling road race. He completed the 145.5-kilometre course in three hours, 25 minutes, 25 seconds. Athletes from Japan and Thailand captured silver and bronze, respectively.
Lutsenko earned his second gold Aug. 24 in the men’s 40-kilometre individual time trial, advancing past Uzbek and Japanese athletes.
“I congratulate our team with the gold medal. I am happy to bring the second gold medal from cycling. I wish good luck to all athletes in the 2018 Asian games. Go Kazakhstan!” he said.
Ju-jitsu is making its first appearance at the Games, and athletes Darkhan Nortayev and Ruslan Israilov took gold medals.
Darkhan Nortayev (newaza men’s 62-kg) grabbed the country’s gold medal, beating an athlete from the United Arab Emirates in a decisive match Aug. 25. Ruslan Israilov (newaza men’s 77-kg) also took gold, defeating a Kyrgyz athlete in the final Aug. 26.
Kazakh ju-jitsu fighters Nartay Kazhekov, Nurzhan Seiduali and Rizat Makhashev brought Kazakhstan bronze medals.
Kazakh karate fighter Guzaliya Gafurova (women’s 68-kg) brought sixth gold to the country Aug. 27. It is the second time in her career she defeated an opponent from China in the final of the Asian games.
Gafurova is a bronze medalist at the World Championships, two-times Asian Games champion, silver and bronze medalist of the Asian Games, three-time silver and two-time bronze medalist of Asian championships and the 24th right karate competitor in the world.
The Kazakh team in rhythmic gymnastics, Dayana Abdirbekova, Alina Adilkhanova and Adilya Tlekenova, brought the seventh gold medal to Kazakhstan, defeating the Uzbekistan and South Korea national teams.
That gold pushed Kazakhstan past Uzbekistan in the medal table of the Asian Games and into the top 10.
Taekwondo fighter Cansel Deniz, the men’s doubles tennis team of Aleksander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev, the Kazakh women’s water polo team and Kazakh karate fighter Didar Amirali took silver. Similar medals were presented to wrestlers Zhuldyz Eshimova (women’s 53-kg freestyle), Daniyar Kaisanov (men’s 74-kg freestyle), Almat Kebispayev (men’s 67-kg Greco-Roman) and Nurmakhan Tinaliyev (men’s 130-kg Greco-Roman).
The 2018 Asian Games have attracted 10,000 athletes from 45 countries to compete in 40 sports. The Kazakh national team is represented by 440 athletes, 404 of whom vie for medals in 25 Olympic sports in 37 disciplines.
