Sport in Uzbekistan

Over the centuries, Uzbekistan has had a tradition of fostering equestrians and wrestlers (palvins). Some of the sports that originate in the country are the kurash, which is a type of upright wrestling. Other types of wrestling are belbogli kurash, turon, and boyqurgan all having the same origins. Other popular sports in Uzbekistan are football, basketball, boxing, wrestling, and judo.

Football

Football is the most popular sport in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan's premier football league is the Uzbek League, which features 14 teams since 2010, before 16. The current champions are FC Bunyodkor, and the team with the most championships is FC Pakhtakor Tashkent with eight. The current Player of the Year (2011) is Odil Ahmedov. Uzbekistan regularly participates in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup. Nasaf won AFC Cup in 2011, which is the first international club cup for Uzbek football.

The Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium has a capacity of 35,000, and is mostly used for football matches.

Basketball

Uzbekistan used to be part of the powerful Soviet Union national basketball team. After the dissolution of the team, Uzbekistan founded its own team which was moderately successful between the mid-90s and mid-2000s.

Ice Hockey

Uzbekistan used to be part of the Soviet Union national ice hockey team.

Rugby union

Uzbekistan used to be part of the Soviet Union national rugby union team, but since its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has created its own national team.

Handball

Handball is one of Uzbekistan's most popular sports, but nothing special has been achieved.

Olympics

Since its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has taken part in the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics with increasing success. Uzbekistan has competed four times at the Summer Olympics, collecting one gold medal and five bronze medals in boxing, two gold medals and two silver medals in wrestling, and a silver medal in judo. Uzbekistan's only medal at the Winter Olympics was a gold medal in cross-country skiing in 1994. In the 2016 Rio Olympics Ruslan Nurudinov won gold in the men's 105kg weightlifting, lifting a total of 431kg, including an Olympic record 237kg in the clean & jerk.

Notable athletes

Ruslan Chagaev


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