Turkmen athlete Muminjan Arzikulov won a gold medal at the 2026 World Sambo Championships, held in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. He competed in combat sambo in the weight category up to 71 kilograms and was awarded the title of world champion.
On the way to the gold medal, Mumindzhan Arzikulov fought five fights and won over all his opponents. In the 1/16 finals, he defeated the Russian Rolan Zinnatov with a score of 1:0, and in the 1/8 finals he defeated the Tunisian Omar Reguigui with a score of 4:0. In the quarterfinals, the Turkmen athlete met with the representative of the Netherlands, David van Doorn, and won with a score of 2:0.
In the semi-finals, the Turkmen athlete competed with the Kazakh sambo wrestler Nythan Toleukhan. Having won this match, he reached the final. In the decisive battle for the gold medal, his opponent was Ukrainian Andrey Kucherenko. Mumindzhan Arzikulov won the final match with a score of 4:2 and won the gold medal at the world championship.
Results of all fights of the Turkmen athlete at the championship:
1/16 finals: Rolan Zinnatov (Russia) - 1:0;
1/8 finals: Omar Reguigui (Tunisia) - 4:0;
Quarterfinals: David van Doorn (Netherlands) - 2:0;
Semi-final: Nyatkhan Toleukhan (Kazakhstan) - victory;
Final: Andrey Kucherenko (Ukraine) – 4:2.
This achievement became Mumindzhan Arzikulov’s second gold medal at the world championships. Previously, he had already become the world champion in sambo at the championship held on November 8–10, 2024 in Kazakhstan.
Thus, having won gold medals at the world championships in 2024 and 2026, the Turkmen athlete became a two-time world champion in sambo.
