Between April 23 and 30, three continental championships be he hosted as part of the Inspiring Ashgabat Test Event Series at the venue which will be used at the Games scheduled to take place from September 17 to 27 in Turkmenistan’s capital city.

The competitions being held will be the Senior Asian Weightlifting Championships, Asian Kickboxing Confederation Championships for 2016-2017 and the Central Asian Short Course Swimming Championships.

Along with testing out the facilities, the series will also be used as an opportunity for some of the Games volunteers, known as First Stars, to see how well prepared they are.

“Having major international events taking place in the Ashgabat Olympic Complex is extremely important to test operational readiness by simulating Games-time operations,” said Dayanch Gulgeldiyev, chairman of the Games’ Executive Committee.

“Test events aren’t only a key part of operational planning for us to be ready to deliver the best ever Games, but they also represent a great opportunity for the people of Ashgabat to be able to see the Ashgabat Olympic Complext come to life.

“I’m sure that Inspiring Ashgabat will inspire the country even further and create additional excitement ahead of Ashgabat 2017.”

This year’s competition will be the fifth edition of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and will see the continent’s 45 National Olympic Committees and 17 from Oceania take part.

The Games will feature 21 sports being contested across 15 venues.

All the sports except for futsal and equestrian will take place within the Olympic Complex.

After the Games, the facilities will be used as training bases for several educational institutes in the country.