Ahal defeated Kopetdag in the match of the 3rd round of the Turkmenistan Football Championship among Major League teams.

The meeting in Goktepe etrap ended with a score of 4:0 in favor of the hosts. The goals were scored by Dayanch Meredov (23rd minute), Gurban Annayev (35th), Suleyman Kadirov (76th, own goal) and Yakupmuhammet Govshudov (90+3).

Ahal, which has a match in reserve, scored 6 points and rose to second place in the standings, two points ahead of Merv and Nebichi. Kopetdag takes the last, 8th place, with zero points.

In the other matches of the day, Nebichi drew with Shagadam at home (0-0), while Merv shared points with Ashgabat (0-0) on the road.

Kuwaiti Al-Arabi tied with Omani Al-Seeb in the return match of the ¼ finals of the AFC Challenge League in the West zone. The meeting, which took place on Thursday night in Oman, ended with a score of 2:2, but thanks to a minimal victory (1:0) in the first match, the Kuwaitis won a ticket to the semi-finals, where the Arkadag footballers were already waiting for them.

Arkadag and Al-Arabi have already met in the group stage of the AFC Challenge League, where the Turkmen team lost with a score of 2:3.

The semi-final matches will be held on April 9 and 16. Arkadag will play the first game away, and the return game at its home stadium in the city of Arkadag.

Let us remind that Arkadag reached the semi-finals of the third most important club tournament in Asia for the first time in its history. In the quarterfinals, the Turkmen team defeated the Indian East Bengal, winning in Kolkata with a score of 1:0, and in the return match at home – 2:1.

The Turkmenistan national tennis team made a successful debut at the prestigious ITF Master's World Team Championship tournament, held in Manavgat, Türkiye. The national team in the 30+ age category made it to the quarterfinals of the competition, where 12 of the world's strongest teams are competing, reports the publication "Turkmenistan: Golden Age".

Turkmenistan is represented at this tournament by the country's number one tennis player Yuri Rogusskiy, bronze medalist of the 2024 Turkmenistan Cup Gurbanberdy Gurbanberdyev, as well as former number ones of the country Aleksandr Ernepesov and Eziz Dovletov. The latter two won the Davis Cup in Group IV of the Asia and Oceania Zone as part of the national team in 2013. The team captain is the head coach of the national men's team and the Ashgabat Tennis Academy Mirali Gasanov, the only holder of the PRO Level certificate in Turkmenistan.

In the group stage, the Turkmen team lost to the UK team with a score of 0:3, but in the decisive match for reaching the quarterfinals, they won an important victory over the Canadian team.

In the first singles match, Alexander Ernepesov beat Jabrill Kabli with a score of 7:5, 6:3, but in the second match, Canadian Nicholas Vincent prevailed over Yuri Rogusskiy – 7:6, 6:2. The fate of the ticket to the quarterfinals was decided in the doubles match, where Ernepesov and Rogusskiy snatched victory from Kabli and Vincent in a tie-break – 6:4, 7:6(4).

Reaching the top eight teams in the world was a historic achievement for Turkmen tennis, especially considering that this was the team’s debut performance at this tournament.

In the quarterfinals, the Turkmen tennis players will meet the Indian team. In the remaining matches for the semifinals, Argentina will play Sweden, Germany will play Türkiye, and the USA will play Great Britain.

On Wednesday, Arkadag Football Club beat East Bengal 2-1 in the AFC Challenge League match, securing a place in the semi-finals of the tournament.

The meeting took place in the city of Arkadag. Altymurad Annadurdiyev played a key role in the victory, coming on as a substitute and scoring two goals against the Indian club. A player named Messi scored for the visiting team.

This result allowed the Turkmen club to continue playing in the Asian tournament and advance to the next stage of the competition.

A referee team from Lebanon has been appointed for the return match of the 1/4 finals of the AFC Challenge League between Turkmenistan's Arkadag and India's East Bengal. The chief referee is Sheikh Ahmad Alaeddin.

The refereeing team also included assistant referees Samer Badr and Ali Berri, reserve referee Muath Owfi Eman (Palestine) and match commissioner Davlatmand Islomov (Tajikistan).

The meeting will take place on March 12 at the Arkadaga Stadium and will start at 15:30 local time. The hosts will take to the field in a white uniform, East Bengal will play in red. In the first match, which took place a week ago in Calcutta, Arkadag won 1-0.

On the eve of the game, a press conference was held in Ashgabat with the participation of representatives of both teams.

On March 12, Arkadag Football Club will host Indian East Bengal in the second leg of the 1/4 finals of the AFC Challenge League. The game will take place at the home stadium in Arkadag and will start at 15:30 local time.

On the eve of the important match, the head coach of the Turkmen team, Dovletmyrat Annayev, and striker Didar Durdyev held a pre-match press conference, where they shared their expectations for the upcoming meeting.

Answering a question about the state of the team, Dovletmyrat Annaev emphasized the high level of readiness of the players: "A team in such tournaments should always be ready to the maximum, because if you are not ready to the maximum, there is no point in participating in such tournaments." According to the coach, the players do not need additional motivation.: "Playing in a club like Arkadag is already a motivation."

Regarding tactics for the upcoming game, the coach of the Turkmen club noted that the team is preparing for various scenarios for the development of the match: "In modern football, it is a thankless task to assume in advance how the match will go. We are ready for different game situations."

Forward Didar Durdyev, commenting on the first match in India, which Arkadag won away (1-0), acknowledged the difficulty of the game in unusual climatic conditions.: "It was a little hard because of the weather, but everything went well. The most important thing is that we completed the task and won the away match."

At the same time, the player noted that the team does not relax before the home game: "We know, this does not mean anything that we won the first match. In the second game, at home, at home, the task is also to win."

Turkmen tennis players will make their debut at a prestigious international tournament in Türkiye, where they will compete with the best teams in the world, reports the publication “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”.

The ITF Masters World Team Championship will start in Manavgat, Türkiye, where the national team of Turkmenistan will participate for the first time. The tournament will bring together 126 teams that will compete in the age categories of 30, 35, 40 and 45+ years.

The Turkmen team will compete in the 30+ category, where 12 teams divided into 4 groups will compete for the title. The Turkmen team is in group “B” along with the teams of Great Britain and Canada. The winners of the groups will advance to the playoffs.

The Turkmen team received an invitation to this prestigious tournament, held according to the Davis Cup rules, last year during a visit to the country by the President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) David Haggerty.

The national team included: the country's number one tennis player Yuri Rogusskiy, bronze medalist of the 2024 Turkmenistan Cup Gurbanberdy Gurbanberdyev, as well as former number one tennis players of the country Aleksandr Ernepesov and Eziz Dovletov, who together won the Davis Cup in Group IV of the Asia and Oceania zone in 2013.

Mirali Gasanov, the head coach of the country's men's team and the only holder of a PRO Level certificate in Turkmenistan, which gives the right to work with professional players in any country in the world, has been appointed captain of the team.

The Turkmen tennis players will play their first match at the tournament against the UK team.

The East Bengal footballers arrived in Turkmenistan, where they will play against Arkadag in the return match of the ¼ finals of the AFC Challenge League. The first meeting in Kolkata ended with a victory for the Turkmen team with a score of 1:0.

According to the press service of the Indian team, the visiting footballers held a training session on Monday under the guidance of head coach Oscar Bruzon at the stadium in the Buzmeyin etrap of Ashgabat, which is the home arena for Altyn Asyr.

The return match of the 1/4 finals of the AFC Challenge League Arkadag – East Bengal will take place at the stadium of the “smart” city on March 12 at 15:30 Ashgabat time.

On the eve of the game, representatives of the teams will give a press conference.

The results of the draw for the 1/2 finals of the Belarusian Cup have become known.

Vitebsk, for which Vepa Jumaev plays, and Torpedo-BelAZ, for which Teymur Chariyev plays, recognized their rivals.

Draw results:

• Torpedo-BelAZ (Zhodino) – ML (Vitebsk)
• Neman (Grodno) – Vitebsk
• The first matches will be played in April, and the second matches will be played in May.

In the quarterfinals, Vitebsk turned out to be stronger than Slutsk (2:0 and 0:0), and Torpedo-BelAZ passed Dynamo Brest by the sum of two meetings (0:0 and 1:0).

From February 25 to March 8, the World Chess Championship among players under 20 was held in Petrovac (Montenegro). Six chess players from Turkmenistan participated in the tournament - three boys and three girls, who demonstrated a worthy fight in the international arena.
The tournament brought together 255 of the world's strongest chess players from more than 60 countries. The games were held in 11 rounds according to the Swiss system in two categories: open (OPEN) and among girls. In the open category, 157 chess players competed, while among girls, 98 participants entered the fight.

Tournament results for the Turkmenistan team
In the men's category, the Turkmenistan team was represented by Amanmuhammet Khommadov (5.5 points), Vepaly Khalyniyazov (5 points) and Serdar Bayramov (4 points). The winner of the tournament in this category was Indian grandmaster Venkatesh Pranav (FIDE rating - 2615), who scored 9 points and won the world champion title.

In the women's category, Turkmenistan was represented by sisters Lala and Leyla Shokhradova, as well as Gulmira Seyilkhanova. Lala scored 5 points, Leyla and Gulmira - 4.5 points each. In this group, the world champion title was won by 16-year-old Russian Anna Shukhman, who scored 9 points (FIDE rating - 2365).

Given the strong lineup of participants, five out of six Turkmen chess players increased their FIDE ratings. Khalyniyazov scored the most rating points, adding 65 more to his 2157 points. Also, worth mentioning are Bayramov (2007, +56) and Seyilkhanova (1939, +51). Overall, our chess players performed at about the level of their seeding at the start of the tournament.

Experience, analysis and preparation for new battles
The tournament became a valuable experience for young chess players of Turkmenistan. For the coaching staff, the games played and the results will be the subject of further analysis and improvement of the preparation process, the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan noted.

New international tournaments are ahead for Turkmen chess players. In April, they plan to participate in the Central Asian Zonal Championship (Kazakhstan), the World Rapid and Blitz Championship among boys and girls (Greece), the Moscow State University Cup and other prestigious competitions. Time for preparation remains limited, and the coaching staff plans to carry out thorough work to achieve high results in these tournaments, the SCF added.

The Olympic Council of Asia has announced the sports and age requirements for the III Asian Youth Games, which will be held from October 22 to 31, 2025, in Bahrain.

In a letter to the presidents and general secretaries of the 45 National Olympic Committees, Director General of the sports structure, Hussein Al Musallam, stated that the decisions were made jointly with the Organizing Committee of the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.

Young athletes aged 14 to 17 from various Asian countries will participate in the competitions. The Games program includes 24 sports, among which are: athletics, badminton, 3x3 basketball, equestrian sports, esports, futsal, golf, handball, judo, jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts, road cycling, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, wrestling, weightlifting, kabaddi, volleyball, and teqball.

Among the disciplines is camel racing, following the Olympic Council of Asia's official recognition last month of World Camelids Sports as the governing body for camel racing in Asia.

The III Asian Youth Games will be a significant event for young people, providing an opportunity to showcase their athletic achievements on the international stage.

Turkmen "Arkadag" beat Indian "East Bengal" in the first match of the 1/4 finals of the AFC Challenge League.

The meeting, held on Wednesday in Calcutta, ended with a 1-0 victory for the guests. Yazgylych Gurbanov scored a goal in the 10th minute.

The second leg of the two-legged match will be played on March 12 at the Arkadaga field.