Ashgabat — named Poltoratsk between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan in Central Asia, situated between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range.
The Turkmenistan national football team represents Turkmenistan in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan, the governing body for football in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan's home ground is Ashgabat Stadium in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan have never qualified to the final stages of the World Cup.
Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow is a Turkmen politician who has served as the President of Turkmenistan since February 2007. Berdimuhamedow, a dentist by profession, served in the government under President Saparmurat Niyazov as Minister of Health beginning in 1997 and as Vice-President beginning in 2001. He became Acting President following Niyazov's death on 21 December 2006 and subsequently won the February 2007 presidential election. He faced no meaningful opposition in the vote and won by an overwhelming margin (89.23%). In the February 2012 presidential election, he was re-elected with 97% of the vote. In the February 2017 presidential election, he was re-elected to a third term with 97.69% of the votes.
Aşgabat Football Club is a Turkmenistani football club based in Ashgabat. They play in the top division in Turkmenistan football, Turkmenistan Higher League. Their home stadium is Olympic Stadium. The club was first founded in 2006, they finished 3rd in their debut year under famous manager Ali Gurbani, who left the club following the home loss to Turan Dasoguz. After the national team coach Rahym Gurbanmämmedow took charge, the club clinched their first title in 2007, and will be representing Turkmenistan in the annual CIS Cup and the AFC club tournaments.
Football Club Altyn Asyr is a Turkmen football club based in Ashgabat. Founded in 2008, they play in the top division in Turkmenistan football, the Ýokary Liga. It has remained there ever since, winning the Turkmenistan Higher League championship three times in a row. The club also won the 2009, 2015 and 2016 Turkmenistan Cup and has been a regular in Asian competition in recent seasons. The team plays in the Ashgabat Stadium.
The India national under-23 football team represents India in international under-23 football and is controlled by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) the team can compete in three competitions: the Olympic Games, the AFC U-23 Championship, and the Asian Games.
The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which is also counted as the 5th Asian Indoor Games, was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 2017. It became the third city in the former Soviet countries to win the right of hosting an Olympic Council of Asia-sanctioned event, following Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan, which jointly-hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games. The host city was chosen in Kuwait on 19 December 2010. On 6 July 2013 the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia was officially handed over to the mayor of the city of Ashgabat.
Turkmenistan competed at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China between July 16 and 31, 2011.
The Turkmenistan national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Turkmenistan. The team is controlled by the National Center of Turkmenistan for Winter Sports and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Turkmenistan is currently ranked 49th in the IIHF World Ranking and made its debut in the 2018 World Championship Division III Qualification tournament.
Turkmenistan competed at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain between 19 July and 4 August 2013.
Turkmenistan competed at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. A team of one athlete represented the country in the event.
The Turkmenistan Championship is the national hockey championship in Turkmenistan. It involves 8 professional clubs of various ministries, departments and institutions of Turkmenistan. The tournament is held for 3 months in Ashgabat. Competitions are held in two rounds on 28 games each. The teams placing first through fourth place in the championship, will compete with each Cup of Turkmenistan. The first season of the tournament took place in the 2013/2014 year.
The Turkmenistan Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body of ice hockey in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan is the third former Soviet republic from Central Asia after Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to join the IIHF.
The 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championships for track cycling in 2017. They took place in Hong Kong in the Hong Kong Velodrome from 12 to 16 April 2017. The last time the championships took place in Asia was at the 1990 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Japan at the Green Dome Maebashi.
Turkmenistan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
The 2017/2018 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 4 May 2017 and 7 May 2018. It would begin with the pro-am Vienna Snooker Open in May, 2017 and end with the 2018 World Snooker Championship in April the following year. Ronnie O'Sullivan earned a joint-record five ranking titles in the season. He joined Stephen Hendry (1990/1991), Ding Junhui (2013/2014), and Mark Selby (2016/2017) in winning five ranking titles in the same season.
Turkmenistan competed at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London, Great Britain, from 4–13 August 2017.
The 2018 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from 1 to 10 November 2018.
