26 medals in five days. How Uzbekistan is performing at the Asian Games in Japan
By the end of September 24, the national team of Uzbekistan had won 26 medals at the Asian Games — 6 gold, 12 silver, and 8 bronze — and was ranking fifth in the overall standings. In esports, the country won its first-ever Asian Games medal, and in shooting, its first gold in 32 years. "Gazeta" has compiled the main results of the first days of the Asian Games.
26 medals in five days. How Uzbekistan is performing at the Asian Games in Japan
By the evening of September 24, the Uzbekistan national team at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games brought its tally to 26 medals — 6 gold, 12 silver, and 8 bronze — and rose to fifth place in the overall standings. In esports, the country won an Asian Games medal for the first time in history, and in shooting sports, its first gold in 32 years.
Uzbekistan sent the largest delegation in its history to the XX Summer Asian Games — 396 athletes registered in 42 sports.
Following the results of September 23, the team had only 10 medals — 1 gold, 4 silver, and 5 bronze. But the next day significantly changed the situation: the athletes added another 16 awards, including 5 gold, and Uzbekistan climbed to the fifth position in the medal standings.
Uzbekistan won its first medal on September 20. Khumoyunmirzo Khalimov reached the final of the karate kumite tournament in the under 55 kg weight category. In the decisive fight, he lost to the representative of Kazakhstan, Zholaman Bigabylov, and became a silver medalist.
The next day, another karateka, Abdulvakhob Rashidov, brought the team its first gold. In the under 67 kg category, he defeated Japan's Yugo Kozaki in the final. On the same day, Nodirbek Shavkatov took bronze in MMA in the modern under 71 kg category.
MMA was included in the Asian Games program for the first time in 2026. As a result, the debut of this sport immediately brought Uzbekistan three awards: in addition to Shavkatov's bronze, on September 22, Firdavs Atamuradov in modern under 60 kg and Khilola Sobirova in traditional under 60 kg became silver medalists.
The third silver on September 22 was won by Darya Latisheva in wushu. In the demonstration program, she scored 19.413 points. For Latisheva, this award was already the third Asian Games medal of her career. After three days, Uzbekistan had six medals — 1 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze.
On September 23, the national team added four bronze medals to its tally.
Polina Volobueva finished third in the individual women's foil tournament. In wushu sanda, bronzes were taken by Saidullo Abdurashidov in the under 56 kg category and Doniyor Turgunboev in the under 75 kg category.
Another bronze became historic: Abubakar Iminjanov and Farrukh Mirkhamidov reached the semifinals of the eFootball competition. The NOC noted that this is the first-ever Asian Games medal in esports in the history of Uzbekistan.
Thus, by the beginning of September 24, the national team had 10 awards.
The most successful day for the team up to that point was September 24 — 5 gold, 8 silver, and 3 bronze awards. Moreover, 12 of the 16 medals were brought by representatives of rowing and canoeing.
The first gold of the day was won by Shokhsonam Sherzodova, who won the women's single canoe 200m (C1 200m) race. Silver in the double canoe 500m was taken by Artur Guliev and Vladlen Denisov, while Arina Tanatmisheva and Ekaterina Shubina became bronze medalists in the double kayak 500m (K2).
Rowing turned out to be particularly rich in awards — nine. Reigning world champions Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaraliev became Asian Games champions in the lightweight double sculls (LM2x). Another six silver and two bronze medals were won in singles, doubles, and fours.
In shooting sports, Vladimir Svechnikov won gold. In the 10m air pistol final, he scored 244.3 points and set a new Asian Games record. This victory was Uzbekistan's first Asian Games gold in shooting sports in 32 years — since 1994.
Another gold was brought to the team by gymnast Utkirbek Juraev. In the pommel horse exercise, he showed a result of 14.733 points and took first place.
The sixth gold for Uzbekistan at the Games was won by Sharifa Davronova. In the triple jump, she recorded 14.35 m — a personal best — and became the Asian Games champion for the second consecutive time. She achieved her previous victory in this discipline at the Asian Games in Hangzhou with a result of 14.09 m.
Zaynab Dayibekova received silver in the women's individual sabre. In the final, she lost to the two-time world champion from Japan, Misaki Emura, with a score of 14:15.
The summary list is compiled based on the daily results of the National Olympic Committee and the competition results from September 20–24.
In the overall standings after five medal days, Uzbekistan was fifth with a tally of 6–12–8. Higher up were China (80–30–20), Japan (20–34–37), South Korea (10–12–28), and Kazakhstan (8–8–9). At the same time, in terms of the total number of awards, Uzbekistan — 26 — was already ahead of Kazakhstan, which had 25, but in the medal standings, teams are ranked primarily by the number of gold medals.
The XX Summer Asian Games are taking place from September 19 to October 4 in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan. The delegation of Uzbekistan will compete in 42 sports, of which 36 are Olympic and six are non-Olympic.