AIMAG 2017: Countdown starts with a Horse March

The president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, has given the start of a horse march, which marks 500 days to the opening of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) to be held in Ashgabat in 2017.

In the dramatic setting of the ancient fortress of Nisa, the president wished success to all  participants. After inspecting the Olympic village, the Head of State, accompanied by the President of the Asian Olympic council, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad -Al-Sabah presented the flags of Turkmenistan and the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia to two of the horsemen who will take part in the first stage of the marathon. Altogether the march will cover 5766 kilometres in 500 days and will go through all 5 regions of Turkmenistan. In the last stage of the march, the flame of the 5th AIMAG will be lighted in the extremely rich Galkynysh gas field. After that the horsemen will head to Ashgabat and they will arrive at the Olympic village on the 17th of September 2017 for the official opening ceremony of the games.

Many Turkmen sportsmen with outstanding achievements in international competitions took part in the ceremony marking the 500 days countdown to the opening of the games. In an interview for ABU, the chairman of the organising committee for the games, Dayanch Gulgeldiyev, said that they were confident that AIMAG in Ashgabat will be a successful  event and that after the games, the capital of Turkmenistan will turn into  an important sporting centre in the region thanks to the infrastructure that is already in place. He added that being a member of ABU, The State Committee of Turkmenistan for Television, Radio and Cinematography is ready to cooperate with the union in preparation for the successful coverage of the Asian Games in 2017.