Dilshod Nazarov

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Dilshod Nazarov (born 6 May 1982) is a Tajikistani athlete who specializes in the hammer throw. He currently resides in Dushanbe. [1]

His first noteworthy international result was a fifth place at the 2000 World Junior Championships, an event won by 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Eşref Apak. Nazarov then finished fourth at the 2002 Asian Championships in Colombo, and won a bronze medal the next year in Manila in a contest won by Ali Mohamed Al-Zinkawi of Kuwait. Participating in the 2004 Summer Olympics, he got no mark in the qualifying round and thus failed to make it through to the second round. [2] In June 2005 he threw a new personal best of 77.63 metres in Almaty. At the 2005 World Championships he was again knocked out in the qualifying round, [3] but at the 2005 Asian Championships in Incheon Nazarov won a silver medal, again behind Al-Zinkawi. [4]

At the 2006 Asian Games Nazarov finally won a gold medal, overcoming Ali Mohamed Al-Zinkawi who had held the lead until the fifth and penultimate round. Al-Zinkawi was the pre-event favourite, having a season (and career) best of 76.97 metres while Nazarov only had a season best of 70.03 metres from Istanbul in June. The absence of 2004 Olympic champion Koji Murofushi was noted; nonetheless, Nazarov's gold medal was celebrated as the first gold medal of Tajikistan at the Asian Games in any sport. [5] In addition it was their first Asian Games medal of any kind in athletics. [6] Another famous hammer thrower, Andrey Abduvaliyev, did compete for Tajikistan from 1991 to 1997, winning gold medals at the World Championships in 1993 and 1995. When he won his first and only Asian Games medal, a silver at the 1998 edition, he did so as an Uzbekistani citizen. Commenting on the victory, Nazarov stated that "This is a big victory for my country". [7]

[edit] References

Notes

  1. ^ Profile. 2006 Asian Games official site. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  2. ^ IAAF. Official Results - Hammer Throw - Men - Qualification. Athens Olympic Games 2004 Results - By Event. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  3. ^ IAAF. Official Results - Hammer Throw - Men - Qualification. 2005 World Championships Results - By Event. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  4. ^ Asian Championships. GBR Athletics. Descartes Publishing. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  5. ^ Negash, Elshadai. "Zhang throws Asian Hammer Record - Asian Games, Day Two", IAAF, 8 December 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-11. 
  6. ^ Asian Games. GBR Athletics. Descartes Publishing. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  7. ^ Xinhua. "Hammer thrower Nazarov wins Tajikistan's first Asian Games gold medal", People's Daily Online, 9 December 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.