Turkmenistan Judo Team Ready for Paris 2024 Olympics
As the countdown to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris continues, we are proud to introduce two stellar representatives of the Turkmenistan judo team: 20-year-old Serdar Rahimov and 19-year-old Maysa Pardayeva.
Hailing from the Lebap region, these talented athletes have achieved significant success on the international stage. Serdar, representing the judo school of Hojambaz district, has been trained under his first coach, Bayram Sherapov. Maysa, on the other hand, is the pride of Köytendağ and was guided by her first coach, Jora Matnazarov.
Serdar made history this May by becoming the first Turkmen athlete to win a gold medal at the Grand Slam tournament in Dushanbe. He also secured silver medals at the 2024 European Open Cup in Riga and the European Open Championship in Warsaw.
Maysa Pardayeva has also achieved remarkable success. In her most recent tournament, she won the gold medal in the 57 kg category by defeating her Serbian opponent in the final. Maysa finished in the top five at the Grand Slam tournament in Dushanbe and earned a bronze medal at the 19th Asian Games held in China in 2023, showcasing her talent once again. Her victory at the 2023 Asian Cup in Tashkent further established her as one of Asia’s strongest young judokas.
The impressive performance of the Turkmen judokas is largely attributed to the dedicated efforts of their Japanese coach, Kazuhiko Tokuno. A seventh-dan black belt holder, Tokuno has been coaching the Turkmenistan men’s and women’s national teams since April 2023. Tokuno has a distinguished career, having won the Asian Championships in 1995 and the Asian Games in 1998, as well as earning a silver medal at the 1999 World Championships and a bronze at the 2001 World Championships. He has worked with Japanese women’s teams across all age groups for many years and was selected by the International Judo Federation (IJF) as one of the best coaches in 2011.
We eagerly await the performances of Serdar Rahimov and Maysa Pardayeva as they represent Turkmenistan at the Paris 2024 Olympics.