Kazakhstani weightlifter Aiganym Zhanbolat took 7th place in the up to 86 kg weight category at the Asian Games in Japan. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Zhanbolat, who previously competed in the up to 77 kg category, only moved up to a heavier weight class this spring. She immediately won the Kazakhstan championship, simultaneously setting national records.

On the international stage, Aiganym's performance was less successful. Snatching 102 kg and clean and jerking 130 kg, our athlete totaled 232 kg in the combined event. She took seventh, the penultimate place.

Had she repeated her May result, she would have been fifth – 256 (115+141). That is 2 kg behind Turkmen athlete Anamzhan Rustamova, who took fourth place at the Asian Games.

The gold was won by current world champion Yang Wu. The Chinese athlete beat 2021 world champion and 2021 European champion Alina Marushchak, who competed for the Ukrainian national team, by 1 kg. In 2023, the native of Khmelnytskyi region was disqualified for doping. After serving her suspension, Marushchak competes under the flag of Bahrain.

September 29. Weightlifting. Women. Up to 86 kg

🥈 2. Alina MARUSHCHAK (Bahrain) – 272 (124+148)

🥉 3. Mahsa BEHESHTI (Iran) – 259 (113+146)

…7. Aiganym ZHANBOLAT (Kazakhstan) – 232 (102+130)

Kazakhstani weightlifters rank sixth in medals for the entire history of the Asian Games. Gold medals in various years were won by Andrey Makarov (1994, 1998), Ilya Ilyin (2006, 2010), Sergey Kopytov (1994), Vyacheslav Nyu (1994), Bakhyt Akhmetov (2002), Sergey Filimonov (2002), Vyacheslav Ershov (2006), Maya Maneza (2010), Svetlana Podobedova (2010) and Margarita Eliseeva (2014).

The XX Summer Asian Games officially opened on September 19 and will end on October 4. Athletes from 45 countries are competing for 460 sets of medals. Kazakhstan's national team at the 2026 Asian Games includes 558 athletes in 35 sports.

On the first day of the Games, Kazakhstanis won four gold medals. The champions of the Games were cyclists Rinata Sultanova and Alexey Lutsenko, as well as karatekas Zholaman Bigabyl and Sofya Berultseva. The fifth gold was added to the team's tally by MMA fighter Yerkingali Burkutalin. The sixth – by his teammate in mixed martial arts Kadyrbek Shynbaev. On September 23, Lutsenko became a two-time champion of the 2026 Asian Games. The eighth gold medal was won on September 24 by rowers Vladislav Yakovlev and Ivan Chernukhin in the men's coxless pairs. The ninth gold medal was won by our epee fencing team.

After nine days of the Games, Kazakhstan was in fifth place in the unofficial medal standings.