Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- From 24 to 25 September 2022, the IV Open Championship of Central Asia in athletics was held in Samarkand. 

The team event was won by the team of Uzbekistan, which won 79 medals (25 gold, 27 silver and 27 bronze medals). Turkmenistan finished the second (3 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals), Kyrgyzstan – third (3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals). In total, 56 sets of awards in 41 athletics disciplines were played within the framework of international competitions.

For the first time, Samarkand became the venue for the Central Asian Open Championship in athletics. More than 300 athletes from 11 countries took part in international competitions. Participation in competitions gave each athlete the opportunity to improve personal results and change their position in the World Athletic rating system.

In many ways, the holding of the international tournament became possible thanks to the careful preparation of the Afrosiab Arena sports complex for the sports championship. The unique sports complex was built in 2004 on behalf of Shavkat Miramonovich Mirziyoyev for holding the republican student sports games "Universiade 2004". The capacity of the sports complex is 15,000 seats. In 2022, at the initiative of the country’s leadership, a full-scale reconstruction of the sports complex was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the World Athletics Association World Athletics.

Despite the fact that this championship is the final one in this season, its results were able to surprise and please fans of athletics.

Sharifa Davronova, a native of Samarkand, confirmed the title of the most talented junior by winning gold in the triple jump with a result of 13.81m. Today Sharifa is the world leader in two age categories U18 and U20. Leadership in the triple jump among men also remained with Uzbekistan - with a result of 15.65 m, Islam Sibagatullin won the first place.

A new record of Uzbekistan in the 3000 meters hurdles in the U18 and U20 age categories was set by Dilshoda Usmanova, who ran the distance in 10:40.43 and improved her previous record by 0.06 seconds.

In the women’s high jump, Barno Saifullaeva won the first place. As part of the Open Championship, she set a personal best, taking a height of 1.83 m. And today she is the leader in her age category U18 on the Asian continent. Among men in the high jump, Amir Nagaev was the first with a score of 2.13 m, having fulfilled the standard of the master of sports.

The holding of the IV Open Championship of Central Asia in athletics was good preparation for the upcoming V Asian championship in athletics among boys and girls U18, which will be held in the spring of 2023 in Tashkent.