Uzbekistan hopes its 58 athletes to compete in the upcoming Beijing Olympics could bring home at least three gold medals, according to reports from the Uzbek capital Tashkent.
Officials from the central Asian country's Olympic Committee said Wednesday that the athletes will compete in 15 sports including wrestling, judo, Taekwando and boxing.
The country's most promising gold medal winners are among the athletes competing in wrestling, boxing and judo, officials said, adding that the country won two golds in wrestling during the 2004 Athens Games.
According to a recent decision by the Uzbek government, athletes who win gold medals during the Beijing Games for the country will each get a prize of 100,000 U.S. dollars, silver medalists 50,000 dollars and bronze medalists 25,000 dollars.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2008)