7 various medals and 5 national records - this is the result of the performance of Turkmen swimmers at the open championship of Uzbekistan, held in Tashkent on April 12-17.
More than 160 athletes from Afghanistan, India, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan took part in the tournament, which was qualifying not only for the XXXII Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, but also for the World Swimming Championships (25m) 2021 in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and World Championships 2022 Fukuoka (Japan).
Merdan Ataev brought three medals to the collection of our team.The 25-year-old international master degree of sports from Ashgabat won gold in swimming 200 meters backstroke (2 minutes 11.10 seconds) and two silver medals in the backstroke swimming style in 50 meters (26.11 seconds) and 100 meters (54.91 seconds).
At the same time, the result at the 100-meter distance is now a new record for Turkmenistan.
A student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, Daria Semenova won two medals a silver and a gold one.Daria Semenova, an 18-year-old master of sports from Ashgabat, was awarded silver in the 100 meter breaststroke (1 minute 17.67 seconds) and gold in the 200-meter combined swimming with a new record of Turkmenistan - 2 minutes 28.84 seconds.
She set another national record in the preliminary 50 meters butterfly - 30.00 seconds.In the final in butterfly program D.Semyonova finished 5th with a time of 30.15 seconds.
Two more bronze medals were won by Musa Jalaev, a student of the 11th grade of secondary school №18 of Ashgabat. The 18-year-old master of sports degree achieved this success in swimming 50 meters backstroke (27.37 seconds) and 800 meters freestyle with a new record of Turkmenistan - 9 minutes 19.15 seconds.
Another national record was set by M. Jalayev in the final 50 meters butterfly, finishing sixth with a time of 25.50 seconds. In another form of the program - at the royal distance (50 meters) freestyle - he showed the ninth result (24.26 seconds).
All three of our prize-winners are graduates of the school of higher sportsmanship. Merdan Ataev and Daria Semyonova train under the guidance of the Honored Coach of Turkmenistan Sergei Epifanov, and Musa Jalaev is coached by Dmitry Novikov.