ASTANA – Kazakhstan won six medals, including four golds, on Sept. 20, the first full day of competition following the official opening of the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, reported the Kazakh National Olympic Committee’s press service.
The Kazakhstan national triathlon team. Photo credit: Sali Sabirov.
Triathlete Arlan Zhanabay secured Kazakhstan’s first medal of the games in the men’s individual triathlon, finishing third in 53:11. Japan’s Takumi Hojo won gold, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Zhanabay, while another Kazakh athlete, Ayan Beisenbayev, placed ninth.
Triathlete Arlan Zhanabay. Photo credit: NOC.
Kazakhstan’s first gold followed soon after, with cyclist Rinata Sultanova winning the women’s individual time trial in road cycling. Sultanova completed the course in 36:23.72, finishing 4.86 seconds ahead of China’s Zhang Hao. South Korea’s Shin Chieun took bronze.
Alexey Lutsenko then added another cycling gold in the men’s individual time trial with a time of 41:24.05. Japan’s Shunsuke Imamura took silver and Mongolia’s Jambaljamts Sainbayar won bronze. The victory was Lutsenko’s fifth Asian Games gold medal. It also marked his fourth consecutive title in the individual time trial, following victories in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Kazakhstan claims two karate golds
Kazakhstan added two more gold medals in karate. Zholaman Bigabyl won the men’s under-55-kilogram category after defeating Tajikistan’s Makhsatullo Muminov and Indonesia’s Muhammad Zanuar before beating Uzbekistan’s Khumoyunmirzo Khalimov 9-1 in the final. The title marked Bigabyl’s first Asian Games medal.
Sofya Berultseva claimed gold in the women’s over-68-kilogram category. She defeated Saudi Arabia’s Dina Mostafa and Nepal’s Arika Gurung on her way to the final, where she overcame Thailand’s Manivan Butsuwan. Berultseva, who won gold at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, secured her second Asian Games title.
Men’s pentathlon team takes bronze
Kazakhstan also earned bronze in the men’s modern pentathlon team competition. Temirlan Abdraimov recorded the best individual result among the Kazakh athletes, finishing seventh. Tikhon Varekhin placed ninth, Lev Chuvashov 13th and Kirill Stadnik 18th.
The combined results of the three best Kazakh athletes were enough to secure bronze in the team standings. China won gold, while South Korea took silver. The women’s modern pentathlon team finished fourth. Yuliana Petrova placed 14th, Ayana Kazbekova 17th and Diana Shchedrova 18th.
Kazakhstan advances in team sports
Kazakhstan’s men’s table tennis team opened its group campaign with two victories, defeating Bangladesh 3-0 and Singapore 3-1. The team will face Laos in its final Group G match on Sept. 21. The women’s team lost its opening match to South Korea 0-3. Kazakhstan will next play the Maldives.
In beach volleyball, Sergei Bogatu and Kirill Gurin defeated Indonesia’s Imam Ahmad Faisal and Fairuz Baihaqi 2-1 (22:24, 21:19, 15:12). Another Kazakh pair, Abdulmajid Mohammad and Dmitry Yakovlev, lost to Japan’s Juntaro Tachie and Yusuke Ishijima 1-2. Kazakhstan’s women’s volleyball team lost to South Korea in the quarterfinals, 24:26, 25:27, 21:25, and will continue in the matches for fifth through eighth places.
Kazakh athletes also advanced in wushu-sanda. Ayan Tursyn defeated Turkmenistan’s Bibirmeriem Akmukhammedova in the under-52-kilogram category to reach the quarterfinals, while Abdurasid Abdullaev advanced in the under-75-kilogram category after defeating Laos’ Anong Theunchaleun.
In traditional MMA, Erkingali Burkitalin defeated Lin Ming-dian of Chinese Taipei in the opening bout of the men’s under-77-kilogram category and advanced to the quarterfinals. Aigerim Torekhanova was eliminated in her opening bout in the women’s modern MMA under-54-kilogram category.
Kazakhstan finishes seventh in mixed triathlon relay
Kazakhstan’s triathlon team finished seventh in the mixed relay, with Ayan Beisenbayev, Aida Kim, Diana Yerzhanova and Yegor Krupyakov recording a time of 1:31:45. China won the relay in 1:25:54, followed by Japan in 1:26:45 and Hong Kong in 1:27:25.
The result came a day after Zhanabay won bronze in the men’s individual triathlon, giving Kazakhstan its first medal of the 2026 Asian Games.
