2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games

Venues

The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games were held at the Ashgabat Olympic Complex, which is a unique facility which has no parallel in Central Asia. The Complex boasts of over 30 structures, which also includes 15 competition venues, an Athletes' Village and a Paralympic Rehabilitation Medical Center. The construction was launched by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.^[5] On November 5, 2010, the Turkmen President took part in the official stone laying ceremony for the Olympic Village. Investment in the first phase amounted to nearly $2 billion.^[6] The second phase of construction cost $3 billion.^[7][8][9] The total cost of the Olympic Village was $5 billion and the construction was carried by Turkish construction company Polimeks.

The Olympic village includes infrastructure design for the athletes and spectators, such as social and cultural centers, retails spaces, hotels, and dining facilities. The campus features pedestrian crossings and a monorails system for transport.

Several national higher educational institutions are located right next to the Olympic village. The Turkmen State Institute of Economics and Management, the Institute of Culture, the State Border Service Academy of Turkmenistan, and the National Institute of Sports and Tourism all have their campuses nearby. These universities will use the brand-new sports facilities built for the Games in the future.

Test events

The Senior Asian Weightlifting Championship, the WAKO Asian Kickboxing Championships, and the Central Asian Short Course Swimming Championships took place concurrently as part of the Inspiring Ashgabat Test Event Series.^[10]

Weightlifting

The Senior Asian Weightlifting Championships competition began 23 April and ended on 29 April at the Weightlifting Arena. Athletes competed for 144 medals which were awarded for snatch, clean & jerk and total in each bodyweight category. Asia has a strong pedigree in weightlifting with 31 of the 45 medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics being awarded to Asian countries.^[10]

Kickboxing

The Martial Arts Arena hosted the Asian Kickboxing Championships between 26 and 30 April with athletes from up to 20 countries competing over the course of five days. The competition included 27 categories for men and 10 for women which were featured in the Ring and 28 categories for men and 16 for women on the Tatami. The event saw up to 354 medals awarded.^[10]

Short course swimming

In addition to these international competitions the Aquatics Federation of Turkmenistan have organised the first ever Central Asian Short Course Swimming Tournament which consisted of an invitational short course (25) competition in the new Indoor Aquatics Centre. Athletes from neighbouring countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran and Afghanistan will be competed across a number of individual and relay events on 26–27 April 2017.^[10]

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the games took place on Sunday, 17 September 2017 at the newly built Olympic Stadium in Ashgabat.

Sports

A total of 21 sports are represented for the Indoor and Martial Arts Games: four Olympic sports (3-on-3 basketball, track cycling, weightlifting and olympic wrestling), seven Olympic sports held events only in non-Olympic formats (athletics, equestrian, football, swimming, taekwondo and tennis) and eleven non-Olympic disciplines and sports (bowling, chess, cue sports, dancesport, ju-jitsu, kickboxing, kurash, muaythai, sambo, belt wrestling and traditional wrestling)

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sports discipline.

Demonstration sports

•  Esports (4) (details)

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony of the games took place on 27 September at the Olympic Stadium. There were live performances from international singers such Russian Nyusha, Lebanese Elissa, English John Newman and many other local musical performers.^[11]

Brand look

The brand look and all design related works of the Games were made by Belli Creative Studio.^[22]

Emblem

The emblem of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is the image of Akhal-teke, the national horse of Turkmenistan which is renowned for its speed, endurance and intelligence that represents Health. Surrounding the horse were the green Moon that represents Inspiration and the sun, the symbol of the Olympic Council of Asia, which represents friendship.

Mascot

The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games mascot is a Central Asian Shepherd Dog named Wepaly – meaning loyal friend in Turkmen. Locally known as Alabai, the Central Asian Shepherd Dog is renowned as a courageous animal in Turkmenistan for many centuries has helped Turkmen shepherds to safeguard flocks of cattle in heavy conditions in the sandy desert. Wepaly wears traditional ceremonial dress and a white telpek fur hat while waving the State Flag of Turkmenistan and the symbol of the Olympic Council of Asia.^[23][24] The mascot was unveiled 200 days before the games and was originally coloured green, but Turkmenistan's president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow ordered a last minute makeover possibly due to poor public reception.^[25][26]

Medals

The medals of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games were revealed on February 16, 2017, and were designed by Singaporean company Eng Leong Medallic Industries. The medals shaped like eight pointed Oguz Khan Stars, the national emblem of the host nation and featured elements like olive branches and the five traditional carpet motifs on its obverse and the games' emblem on its reverse. The olive branches symbolising peace, the country's neutrality status and its commitment to peaceful development of international relations, while the five traditional carpet motifs represent the provinces of the country and the traditionally warm Turkmen hospitality. A total of 2,000 medals were produced for the Games, weighing 721 kilograms all-together.^[27]

Corporate sponsorship