TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN: An Iranian sports fanatic, who travelled to the Olympic Games in Athens on roller skates in 2004, is crossing Central Asia on horseback to attend the Summer Olympics in Beijing, he told AFP.

Majid Charhesht, 33, rode into the Uzbek capital Tashkent carrying an Olympic flag and on a white horse briefly stopping on his 7,500-kilometre journey before heading off through neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.

Charhesht, a former martial arts champion who says he hopes his mission will spread peace in the world, left the Iranian border town of Mashhad a month ago, travelling through Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan.

"I was amazed by Uzbek hospitality. When we tried to camp on the roadside, each time local people invited us to their homes," he told AFP after arriving in Tashkent, where he was hosted at a reception by Iranian diplomats.