AKIPRESS.COM - Alp Begenjov from Turkmenistan has won Turkmenistan's first-ever world title in Freestyle.

Begenjov won the gold medal in 79kg weight class at the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain on Saturday.

He won against Mahdi Yousefihajivar (Iran) with a score of 10:0 in the qualifying round, against Oleksandr Mamrosh (Ukraine) with a score of 10:0 in the 1/8 finals, against Dmitry Lukashchuk (Belarus) with a score of 10:0 in the quarterfinals, against Amit Amit (India) with a score of 11:0 in the semifinals, and against Zackary D Ryder from USA with a score of 5:0 in the final.

The bronze medals in this weight category were won by Leandro Araujo from Brazil and Mahdi Yousefihajivar from Iran.

"It was my dream. I made my dream come true. I've become a world champion. It's the first time in the history of my country [in Freestyle]," Begenjov said.

It is only the second time Turkmenistan has won a gold medal at any World Championships. Shorat KHODAYEV (TKM) won a U17 world gold in 1994.

Begenjov had competed at the U17 World Championships in 2022 and 2023, finishing 12th and fifth respectively. This year, he finished fifth at Asian Championships, 12th at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers and won bronze at the U23 Asian Championships.