There are such people in life. They devote their whole lives to one profession. Orazgeldi Charyarov, the national level boxing referee, who was born and raised in the Desht settlement, Baherden Etrap, is one of these people. The Desht settlement is located in the ancient mountains in the south of Baherden Etrap, 120 kilometres from the centre. Orazgeldi grew up inhaling the air of great mountains that witnessed historic events over the centu-ries, graduated from the local secondary school, and then came to Ashgabat. To be more precise, he entered the current A. Kekilov Teacher’ Training School in 1964 and graduated from it with honours in 1968.
During his studies, the future mentor was fond of the track and field athletics and achieved brilliant success in this sport. However, he subsequently chose boxing. Orazgeldi Charyarov continued his studies at the Physical Culture Department of the current Turkmen State University named after Magtymguly. He won victories at the boxing events and had a great talent for organization. Thus, he was invited to work as a trainer when he was a fourth-year student. After graduating from university, Orazgeldi had been working as a coach for two years. However, in 1974, he had to return to his native Desht settlement for family reasons.
For 42 years in a row, he had been working as a physical education teacher at the secondary school 18 in his native settlement and retired with honours in 2009. However, Orazgeldi aga cannot be idle. He returned to boxing a short time later, having opened a boxing group in his native settlement. Orazgeldi aga is still sincerely grateful to Baherden Etrap's government for this opportunity. November 1, 2012. This day will forever remain in memory of many children from Desht and Saywan settlements, who were attracted by the sport, and their experienced men-tor. Later on, he was invited to the former State Committee of Turkmenistan on Tourism and Sports. After the in-terview, the boxing group in the Desht settlement was registered, and Orazgeldi aga was hired as a coach at the Baherden Etrap Sports School. Thus, the boxers from the Desht settlement started to take part in the Etrap, Ve-layat, and national events.
To date, dozens of them are the first-class athletes. The mentor follows the careers of his students. He proudly noted that Yusup Shyhymgulyev, who attended the boxing group from the Saywan settlement, located 10 kilome-tres away, entered the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, and Bagtyyar Mammedov became a student of the Turkmen State Medical University named after Myrat Garryev. The natives of the Desht settle-ment, including in Aynazar Begenjov, Hudayberen Hudayberenov, Mergen Mollaev, and Merdan Orazgeldiev, be-came the champions of Ahal Velayat and took prize-winning places at the national events. Moreover, Orazgeldi aga is one of the most experienced boxing referees in our country. He referees the high-level national events that take place in the Olympic Village. To date, Orazgeldi aga is in his seventies. From his early youth, he has been ac-companied and supported by a loyal friend of life, Kumush dayza, who also devoted her life to teaching. She also retired with honours. The couple have four sons and one daughter. Their grandson Merdan Charyarov is the win-ner of the National Boxing Championship, which took place in Hazar.
Bagtyyar Durdyev, the master of sports and the trainer from Lebap Velayat, who arrived for the competitions in the Olympic Village, noted: ‘Orazgeldi aga is the most senior boxing referee in our country. He always offers us sensible advices. To date, we also work as trainers; however, we admit that Orazgeldi aga is the mentor of men-tors.’ These words demonstrate great honour and respect for the specialist.
We wish Orazgeldi aga, the mentor of mentors, long life and huge success in work.
Muhammet ATAEV.
Photo: the author.
