In December, the State Sports Agency already held an award ceremony for its candidates, but there were too many winners divided by sport and gender. We will try to highlight one based on our opinion.
In 2025, there were no major multi-sport events, which complicated the selection. Therefore, we will rely on the results of the World and Asian Championships.
Unfortunately, among Olympic sports, there were no world champions last year, except for youth competitions. Zhantörö Mirzaliev became the world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling among boys under 20, and 14-year-old Zlata Arkhatova won gold at the junior world championship in rhythmic gymnastics.
Who else can we highlight from the past year?
In the UFC, there were also impressive achievements. Valentina Shevchenko defended her championship title twice, finishing the year in first place in her weight class and becoming the leader among women in all categories. This is indeed an outstanding result!
Myktybek Orolbay uulu also showed his prowess, achieving two significant victories: first, he won against Tofik Musaev from Azerbaijan, and then he knocked out Jack Hermansson. This is good, but not quite enough for the title of the best.
In the football sphere, we should mention the goalkeeper of the Kyrgyzstan national team, Erjan Tokotaev, who was without a club but made a name for himself on the international stage. Although there were talks about his move to Europe, he chose the Uzbekistan championship and the club "Andijan." There, he became a star thanks to his saves and also played four matches in the AFC Champions League without conceding a goal. This is impressive!
Tokotaev was recognized as the best football player of the year by the Kyrgyz Football Union!
There were also significant successes in boxing. In 2025, competitions started under two federations — World Boxing and IBA. The first federation is recognized by the International Olympic Committee, while the second is considered commercial.
At the World Championship under the World Boxing federation, Ikhtiyar Nishonov reached the quarter-finals, while Munarbek Seyitbek uulu won silver at the final stage of the World Boxing Cup.
At the end of the year, the World Championship under the IBA federation took place. Kyrgyz boxers arrived late, and the organizers moved the start of the tournament to the same day. Nevertheless, Omar Livaza reached the final and won a silver medal, while Nishonov became a bronze medalist. Livaza became the first boxer from Kyrgyzstan to reach the final of the World Championship.
In the end, he was recognized as the best male athlete in Olympic sports by the State Sports Agency.
It should be noted that the World Championship was not complete, as many countries did not compete with their main squads, and only representatives from the post-Soviet space reached the quarter-finals.
At the World Wrestling Championship in Croatia, Kyrgyzstan won 5 medals.
Bekzat Almaz uulu could have become the first world champion in freestyle wrestling, but in the final, leading against a North Korean, he suffered a defeat. He only repeated the achievement of Ernazar Akmataliev.
Aiperi Medet kyzy confidently reached the final but unexpectedly lost to a strong athlete from Ecuador. She was recognized as the best female athlete of the year in Olympic sports by the State Agency. They have a special evaluation system that takes into account results from all tournaments.
Last year, Medet kyzy won the Asian Championship and the Islamic Solidarity Games, as well as two medals at a ranking tournament in Albania and an international tournament in Hungary. At the end of the year, she received a three-room apartment from the state as support.
Aiperi Medet kyzy is indeed one of the best athletes of the year, but we have another contender. If you were to ask Aiperi herself, she would probably also be dissatisfied with the year's results, as her main goal was to win the World Championship.
Now we move on to our favorite, to whom we will probably award the title of the best athlete of the year according to Sport АКИpress. This is Denis Petrashov!
Denis Petrashov
The past year turned out to be truly breakthrough for him!
In February, Denis won a gold medal at the student league in the USA — the ACC Championship. Representing the University of Louisville, he finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 50.62 seconds, breaking three records at once — the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, and the high school record.
In March, he added a silver medal at the student league, and in April, he took two more golds at the TYR Pro Swim Series, where the strongest swimmers in America competed. In May, Petrashov won three more gold medals at the same stage, setting a new record for Kyrgyzstan.
In the summer, Denis went to the World Universiade, where he won a gold medal. Despite being slightly ill before the final, he managed to start and win. This gold became the first for Kyrgyz swimming at the World Universiade.
Immediately after that, he headed to Singapore for the World Championship, where he won bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke. This medal became the first for Kyrgyzstan in history at the World Championships!
Can you imagine — Kyrgyzstan now has a medal from the World Swimming Championship! In a country where there are not even Olympic-sized pools!
The World Swimming Championship is an event where almost all countries known for winning medals participate. However, Denis Petrashov managed to break through to this celebration and rightfully claim his share of success. He made a loud statement at the beginning of the new Olympic cycle, which will conclude with the Olympic Games in the USA, where he has been training and competing in recent years.
I hope we have convinced you that this is indeed an outstanding achievement! That is why Denis Petrashov becomes the best athlete of 2025 according to Sport АКИpress!
