{"id":24050,"date":"2020-04-19T13:10:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T07:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/turkmenistan-football-season-restarts-with-crowds\/"},"modified":"2020-04-19T13:10:51","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T07:40:51","slug":"turkmenistan-football-season-restarts-with-crowds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=24050","title":{"rendered":"Turkmenistan football season restarts with crowds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite international concerns that Turkmen authorities are underplaying the threat of the COVID-19.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFP<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkmenistan is rebooting its football season on Sunday, with fans flocking back to stadiums in one of the few countries yet to declare a case of coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reclusive Central Asian state followed other countries around the world when it suspended its eight-team league in March just three games into the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national football federation cited recommendations by the health ministry and the World Health Organisation for preventing the spread of the illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month later, and despite international concerns that Turkmen authorities are underplaying the threat of the virus, football is returning, with supporters only too happy to follow the action from the stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoy boosts our immunity,\u201d joked Ashir Yusupov, a 34-year-old entrepreneur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he would be watching reigning champions Altyn Asyr take on early table-toppers Kopetdag in the capital Ashgabat on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yusupov said he had no fear of crowded places, despite being aware of bans on sports events in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have no coronavirus, so why not restart our league?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resisting suspension professional leagues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three ex-Soviet states have bucked the global trend for suspending professional leagues: Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global interest in the Belarusian league has surged on the back of its decision, while the Tajikistan\u2019s Super Cup final earlier this month attracted a curious multi-lingual online following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Belarus, which has confirmed 4,779 coronavirus cases, has been strongly criticised for allowing fans to attend games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tajikistan has begun its season with matches held behind closed doors, even as its authoritarian government, like that of Turkmenistan, continues to insist there are no cases in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashgabat-based Altyn Asyr, whose name translates as \u201cGolden Age\u201d, won the Turkmen title last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victory against Kopetdag would take it top of the table, with other teams set to play on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vepa, a 20-year-old student, said he \u201cnever misses a game\u201d and will go to the match on Sunday despite not supporting either team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His club is Ahal, who represent the region outside Ashgabat from where the family of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and much of the political elite hail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vepa said he was not sure Ahal can mount a serious title challenge but he has high hopes for new signing Elman Tagayev, a 30-year-old midfielder who has returned from a stint with a club in neighbouring Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis game is dynamic and beautiful,\u201d said Vepa, who did not give his second name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Impregnable fortress of the motherland\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even during Soviet times Turkmenistan was no footballing powerhouse, and the sport is not among those promoted by sports-mad Berdymukhamedov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On World Health Day on April 7, the president was shown on state television riding a horse and a bicycle as state employees engaged in mass exercise sessions across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such large public events have prompted observers to question how seriously the government is taking the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Berdymukhamedov has ordered officials to ramp up efforts to detect any cases and prevent the virus spreading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president is known as the nation\u2019s Arkadag, or \u201cProtector.\u201d State media has stressed the importance of his leadership in the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a poem published in state newspapers on Friday, the president\u2019s favourite poet Gozel Shagulyyeva praised him as \u201cthe impregnable fortress of the motherland.\u201d \u201cProtector, you are watching over (our) health,\u201d Shagulyyeva wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite international concerns that Turkmen authorities are underplaying the threat of the COVID-19. AFP Turkmenistan is rebooting its football season on Sunday, with fans flocking back to stadiums in one of the few countries yet to declare a case of coronavirus. The reclusive Central Asian state followed other countries around the world when it suspended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}