Koji Murofushi
At the 2006 Asian Games Nazarov finally won a gold medal, overcoming Ali Mohamed Al-Zinkawi who had held the lead until the fifth and penultimate round. Al-Zinkawi was the pre-event favourite, having a season (and career) best of 76.97 metres while Nazarov only had a season best of 70.03 metres from Istanbul in June. The absence of 2004 Olympic champion Koji Murofushi was noted; nonetheless, Nazarov's gold medal was celebrated as the first gold medal of Tajikistan at the Asian Games in any sport. In addition it was their first Asian Games medal of any kind in athletics. Another famous hammer thrower, Andrey Abduvaliyev, did compete for Tajikistan from 1991 to 1997, winning gold medals at the World Championships in 1993 and 1995. When he won his first and only Asian Games medal, a silver at the 1998 edition, he did so as an Uzbekistani citizen. Commenting on the victory, Nazarov stated that "This is a big victory for my country".