Turkmen athlete Valentina Meredova completed her performance at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, demonstrating her best result of the season in the 100-meter run. In the first round of the competition, the 39 years old athlete covered the distance in 11,95 seconds, which, however, was not enough to reach the semi-finals.

Meredova, Turkmenistan's only track and field representative at the Olympics, made it through the preliminary round, finishing fourth in her heat with a time of 12,01 seconds. That result earned her 16th place out of 17 runners in the next round of the competition.

This is the second Olympics in Valentina Meredova’s career after participating in the 2008 Games in Beijing. She is the most experienced athlete in the Turkmen team at the Paris Olympics. Meredova also holds the national record of Turkmenistan in the 100m race – 11,56 seconds, set in 2008 in Almaty.

French swimmer Leon Marchand won two gold medals at the home Olympic Games in Paris on July 31.

The 22-year-old athlete won the 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly events, and had previously won gold in the 400m individual medley.

Marchand thus became the first three-time Olympic champion at the 2024 Olympics.

Marchand also became the first swimmer (male or female) in Olympic history to win gold in the 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly events at the same Olympics.

53-year-old Turkmen specialist Tofik Shukurov has been appointed head coach of the Ashgabat Football Club. Shukurov replaced Said Seidov in this position. This was reported by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan.

Recall that earlier Tofik Shukurov worked as the head coach of the Kopetdag team, which is in eighth place in the championship with 12 points.

After 16 rounds, FC Ashgabat is in 6th place in the standings, having 16 points.

The "Altyn Tach" football team from Ashgabat successfully performed at the international children's tournament "Laola Cup 2024", which was held in Hamburg from July 22 to 26, 2024. About 200 teams from more than 46 countries participated in the competition, and the team from Turkmenistan won three bronze medals in different age categories.

The tournament was held in five age categories. This year, "Altyn Tach" presented three squads of players: born in 2009, 2011 and 2013.

In the age category under 15, 12 teams took part, divided into three groups. The Turkmen team showed an excellent result in the group stage, defeating the teams of China and Sweden with a score of 2:1, as well as the club from Malaysia with a score of 3:1, which allowed them to take second place in the group and play in the match for third place.

In the match for the bronze medal, "Altyn Tach" met with the local team from Germany. The regular time of the match ended with a score of 2:2, and the fate of the medals was decided by a penalty shootout, in which the Turkmen team won 2:1.

In the younger age categories (under 13 and under 11 years old), the "Altyn Tach" team also demonstrated excellent results and won bronze medals after a tough fight with opponents from different countries.

It should be noted that this year "Altyn Tach" also took part in the international tournament Mallorca International Football Cup 2024, which was held from June 21 to 25 in Spain. This tournament brought together more than 275 football teams from all over the world.

Barcelona beat Manchester City in a friendly match.

The match took place in Orlando (Florida, USA). The teams tied in regular time — 2:2.

Barcelona's Pau Delgado and Pablo Torre scored, while Manchester City's Nico O'Reilly and Jack Grealish scored. In the penalty shootout, the Spanish team's players were stronger — 4:1.

Josep Guardiola's team came back twice during the match.

Eziz Penjiyev, a promising Turkmen mixed martial artist, is preparing for his first performance within the framework of the new Fight Nights project for young talents – RDD Series. The fight will be held on August 4, where Penjiyev will meet with Tajikistan’s Nurali Jobirov.

Penjiyev has already made a name for himself in the professional arena. In November 2023, he scored an impressive victory over Russian Sergey Tolmachev at the AMC Fight Nights 120 tournament, finishing the fight with a choke.

This victory was the debut for the Turkmen athlete in the Fight Nights rings.

For the first time after a long break of eight years, Turkmenistan held a national chess championship among veterans, i.e. older players who have already turned 50 and 65 years old. This was reported by the Chess Federation of Turkmenistan

The championship was held in the specialized chess and checkers school of the city of Ashgabat.

The last time such a tournament was held was in 2016, and the legendary chess player, International Master Amanmurad Kakageldiyev, won it.

This time, the first two lines in the final table were occupied by the head coach of the physical education and sports club for the disabled in Ashgabat and Ahal velayat, Master of Sports Aydogdy Atabayev (52 years old, FIDE rating - 2086) and the coach of the specialized chess and checkers school of the city of Ashgabat, FIDE Master Serdarguly Bayramsahedov (56 years old, rating - 2216), who scored 7.5 points out of 9 possible.

According to additional indicators, the gold medal was won by the slightly younger Aydogdy Atabayev.

FIDE Master Mikhail Chommyev (62 years old, rating - 2160) was one point behind the leaders and took third place.

In the category of chess players over 65 years old, the competition was no less fierce. Four chess players, each with 4.5 points, were competing for the gold medal. As a result, the winner was 75-year-old candidate for master of sports from the Mary velayat, Halim Mayliyev (rating - 1924). The silver medal went to 79-year-old chess player from the Lebap velayat Chary Sultanov (1707), who was also awarded the prize "For the will to win" from one of the sponsors of the tournament. The top three in the senior category was closed by 71-year-old chess player from the Dashoguz velayat Myrat Yakubov (1739).

In the women's category "50+", the only participant in the tournament was in the lead - the head coach of the Lebap velayat, Guljahan Ovlyakuliyeva, who fought on par with men and scored 3.5 points.

The winners received the right to represent Turkmenistan at the World and Asian Championships among veterans over 50 and 65 years old.

The tournament, which was held according to the Swiss system in 9 rounds, was attended by 18 players.

FC Ahal signed a contract with three players before the third round of the Turkmenistan Football Championship. This was reported by the Football Federation of the country.

Ahead of the second half of the season, Ahal was joined by — player of Balkanabat Nebitchi Makhtymberdy Berenov and Azat Rakhmanov from FC Ashgabat. Also, former goalkeeper Rakhat Dzhaparov returned to the team.

After 16 rounds of the championship, Ahal is in 3rd place in the standings, having scored 34 points.

The qualification for the Olympic women's 100m backstroke has ended. Aynura Primova finished third in her heat with a time of 1:10.17, but this was not enough to reach the semi-finals.

The 16 athletes with the best times advanced to the semi-finals. The 17-year-old Turkmen swimmer, who made her debut at the Paris Olympics, took 35th place overall, ending the fight for medals.

Primova became one of the youngest participants in the Olympic swimming competitions.

It is worth noting that at the 2023 World Junior Championships, she set three national records in backstroke: 50 m - 31.60, 100 m - 1:07.67, 200 m - 2:29.24.

On July 29, at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Turkmen judoka Maysa Pardayeva won her first fight in the 57 kg weight category.

In a tense fight, Pardayeva managed to defeat her experienced opponent from China, Cai Qi, who is a bronze medalist of several prestigious international tournaments.

This is Pardayeva's Olympic debut, and her victory has already proven that she is ready to compete at the highest level. In the next round, the Turkmen athlete will face Brazilian Rafaela Silva, who is ranked 4th in the world judo rankings.

19 years old Maysa Pardayeva, representing Turkmenistan in judo, completed her performance at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, reaching the 1/8 finals in the 57 kg weight category. The Olympic debutant won in the first round against Chinese athlete Kai Qi.

In the second round, Pardayeva faced a more experienced opponent, 32-year-old Brazilian Rafaela Silva, the 2016 Olympic champion and two-time world champion. Despite a tough fight, the Turkmen athlete failed to defeat her opponent.

This is Pardayeva's first appearance at the Olympic Games, although she already has experience of international competitions. In 2023, she won a bronze medal at the XIX Summer Asian Games in Huangzhou. At that time, the athlete shared her dream of becoming an Olympic champion.

To celebrate the 33rd Summer Olympic Games 2024, which kicked off in Paris and other cities in France on July 26, six NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station decided to hold their own mini-Olympics.

The International Space Station has released a two-minute video showing the astronauts' activities.

The video begins with the passing of the Olympic flame. Janet Epps passes the flame to Mike Barratt, Sunita Williams, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, and finally Butch Wilmore, who is in the station's dome with the Earth in the background.

The astronauts then begin to prepare for their competitions.

They concluded by wishing all the athletes a successful performance at the Olympics.

"We can't imagine how difficult it must be to be a world-class athlete playing sports in real gravity. "So from all of us on board the International Space Station, to every athlete at the Olympic Games, good luck!" said Matthew Dominic.