Asian king of the horse: Nariman Kurbanov secures third straight continental gold

Olympic silver medalist Nariman Kurbanov delivered Kazakhstan’s first gold medal of the 2025 Asian Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships on June 7, winning the pommel horse event dominantly.

The 27-year-old Kazakh athlete topped the field with a score of 14.933, edging out South Korea’s Hur Woong, who scored 14.633 to take silver. Vietnam’s Dang Ngoc Xuan Thien earned bronze with 14.233.

Kurbanov’s countryman, Ilyas Azizov, 25, also qualified for the final and placed fifth with a score of 13.933.

Earlier that day, Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi captured silver in the floor exercise. The Kazakh senior and junior teams had already secured bronze medals in the team all-around events held June 5-6.

Kurbanov, now a three-time Asian champion (2023, 2024 and 2025), is also a 2024 Olympic silver medalist in pommel horse and a multiple-time World Cup podium finisher in the event.

Azizov is the 2024 World Challenge Cup champion in pommel horse (Osijek, Croatia), where he also took silver in floor exercise. He competed in the 2024 Asian Championships and earned bronze in the team all-around in 2023.

Team standings

In total, Kazakhstan’s senior and U17 teams won seven medals at the 2025 continental championships: three gold, two silver and two bronze, finishing second in the overall medal table.

Japan dominated the medal count with seven gold, four silver and four bronze medals. South Korea took third with two gold, five silver and four bronze.

The 2025 Asian Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held June 5-8 in Jecheon, South Korea, featuring athletes from 20 countries.

At the 2024 Asian Championships in Tashkent, Kazakhstan earned two gold and one silver on individual apparatus. Karimi claimed gold on the high bar and silver in floor, while Kurbanov took gold in pommel horse.