DUSHANBE, January 12, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Reporters raised the issue of awarding the Olympic prize winners at a press conference given by Maliksho Nematov, head of the Committee for Youth, Sports and tourism Affairs.

Nematov noted that prize money was recently handed over to judoka Rasoul Boqiyev, who a bronze medal for Tajikistan in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in the -73 kg category.  According him, Boqiyev is currently being trained in Moscow for the 30th Olympic Games that will be held I London in 2012.

The official added that the government allocated some 200,000 US dollars to ensure proper training of Boqiyev for the Beijing Olympics.

Nematov also noted that coaches of the Rasoul Boqiyev and Yusup Abdusalomov had been given title The Honored Coach of the Republic of Tajikistan.

We will recall that Rasoul Boqiyev and Yusup Abdusalomov won two medals for Tajikistan in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.  Rasoul Boqiyev won bronze at the Men’s Judo 73 kilogram competition, and Yusup Abdusalomov grabbed silver medal for Tajikistan, finishing second at the Men’s Freestyle Wrestling 84 kilogram competition.

Meanwhile, reporter with the Dushanbe weekly Varzish (Sports) noted that he had received letter from Nikolai Yelchaninov, Russia’s coach of Rasoul Boqiyev in Moscow.  In his letter, Yelchaninov, in particular, expressed concern about the fact that Tajikistan’s authorities have not valued Rasoul Boqiyev properly.

It is to be noted that last year, Rasoul Boqiyev was ranked No 3 in the world in his weight category.  In 2007, he finished third at the World Judo Championships in Rio de Janeiro.