Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is a doubly landlocked country located in Central Asia. It is surrounded by five countries: Kazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Tajikistan to the southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, making it one of only two doubly landlocked countries on Earth, the other being Liechtenstein. Uzbekistan is part of the Turkic world, as well as a member of the Organization of Turkic States. Uzbek, spoken by the Uzbek people, is the official language and spoken by the majority of its inhabitants, while Russian and Tajik are significant minority languages. Islam is the predominant religion, and most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims.
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan, is the name of the unified armed forces of Uzbekistan, consisting of the Ground Force and the Air and Air Defence forces under the defence ministry. Paramilitary units include the National Guard, a Frontier Service and a River Force. It is reported to be the largest and the strongest in Central Asia.
Sports in Uzbekistan includes sports that are played worldwide, such as football, boxing, wrestling, futsal, and judo, as well as sports that originate in the country such as kurash, which is a type of upright wrestling, belbogli kurash, turon, and boyqurgan. Uzbekistan will host the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup and the 2025 Asian Youth Games.
As of March 2017, the total length of Uzbekistan's main railway network is 4,714 kilometres (2,929 mi). A large percentage of the system's track requires major repair. The main line is the portion of the Transcaspian Railroad that connects Tashkent with the Amu Darya. There are rail links with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. Suburban traffic only exists around Tashkent.
The Ecological Party of Uzbekistan is a political party and environmental movement in Uzbekistan. It was founded on 2 August 2008 as the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, and re-inaugurated as a formal political party in January 2019 in advance of expected electoral reforms.
The Tashkent–Bukhara high-speed rail line is a 600-kilometre (373 mi) high-speed rail connection between Tashkent and Bukhara, two major cities in Uzbekistan. The route passes through six regions: Tashkent, Sirdaryo, Jizzakh, Samarqand, Navoiy, and Bukhara in Uzbekistan. Trains operate seven days a week under the brand name Afrosiyob. The line originally ran from Tashkent to Samarqand, but an extension to Bukhara went into operation on 25 August 2016. Travel from Tashkent to Bukhara, a distance of 600 km (373 mi), now takes 3 hours and 20 minutes instead of 7 hours.
Nafisa Muminova is a chess player from Uzbekistan.
Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova is an Uzbek-born American chess player and Woman Grandmaster (2016).
The 44th Chess Olympiad was an international team chess event organised by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Chennai, India, from 28 July to 10 August 2022. It consisted of Open and Women's tournaments, as well as several events to promote chess. The Olympiad was initially supposed to take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the host of the Chess World Cup 2019, in August 2020, but it was later moved to Moscow. However, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then relocated to Chennai following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This was the first Chess Olympiad to take place in India.
Muhabbat Arapovna Sharapova is a mathematician from Uzbekistan. She has received the title O‘zbekiston Qahramoni.
Zaynab Kazbekovna Dayibekova is an Uzbek fencer. She competed in the women's sabre event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, reaching the quarterfinals.
Sharifa Davronova is an Uzbek track and field athlete specializing in the triple jump. She is a member of the Uzbekistan national athletics team. She has won multiple national championships in Uzbekistan and has also been the champion of the Uzbekistan Cup. Additionally, she has secured victory at the World U20 Athletics Championships and the Asian U18 Athletics Championships. In 2022, she claimed a gold medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games, and in 2023, she won the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships and the Summer Asian Games.
Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev is an Uzbek boxer, gold medalist of 2023 IBA Men's World Boxing Championships in welterweight category and bronze medalist of 2022 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships that held in Amman, Jordan. Asadkhuja also won gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the welterweight category.
Irina Semenova (Gevorgyan) (born 18 January 1990 in Tashkent) is an Uzbekistani chess player.
Mukhtorkhon Tashkhodjaev is an Uzbek. He is the chairman of the National Paralympic Committee of Uzbekistan; the vice-president of the Asian Paralympic Committee and Chairman of Adaptive sports Association of Uzbekistan, the chairman of the supervisory board of Kokand University. He is an Honored sports teacher in the Republic of Uzbekistan and a winner of a number of state awards.
Khilola Ortikboeva is an Uzbek judoka and kurash athlete, competing in the under 52 kg weight category, and is a member of the Uzbekistan national team. She is the Asian champion in Kurash and a gold medalist at the Summer Asian Games.
Abdugani Abdullayev was a master woodcarver at the Kokand Artistic Production Enterprise of the Republican Creative Association "Usto". He was awarded the title of People's Master of Uzbekistan in 1999 and was honored as a Hero of Uzbekistan in 2006.
Amaliya Parvizovna Mamedova is an Uzbekistani rhythmic gymnast. She won three gold medals at the 2024 Asian Championships. She represented Uzbekistan at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the group all-around. At the junior level, she is the 2023 Asian group all-around champion.
Akmal Khasanov is a former Uzbek boxer of the middleweight category, champion of Uzbekistan, winner of international tournaments and coach of the national boxing team of Uzbekistan since 2018. Winner of the "Shuhrat" (2023).
