World Tennis Day was celebrated in Turkmenistan with a tournament for young tennis masters. This holiday, established by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in 2013, is celebrated annually on the first Monday of March in order to promote a healthy lifestyle and popularize this sport, reports the publication “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”.
The Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan did not stand aside from this noble action, having organized a tournament together with the Ashgabat Tennis Academy, in which 17 boys and girls under 8 years old took part.
The competition turned into a real celebration.They took place over two days on the courts of the Ashgabat Tennis Academy and gathered many fans and parents of young athletes in the stands.
The high level of organization of the tournament is also evidenced by the fact that the competition was served as the chief arbiter by the chairman of the panel of judges of the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan, holder of the international certificate ITF Level 1, Igor Zubkov.
In the competition among girls, Dayana Rahmanova took first place, Eva Machikhina took second place, and Michelle Sargsyan took third place.
The winner among boys was Mark Azizov, Alihan Nuryagdyev climbed to the second step of the podium. Ismail Babayev closed the top three winners.
The winners and runners-up were awarded medals and certificates.
This is not the first time that these competitions are held by the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan. It is planned that events of this kind will be organized on an ongoing basis as weekend tournaments.
It should be noted that tennis in Turkmenistan, as a sport, began to be cultivated in the early 1950s. Back then it was practiced by a small number of people, and competitions were held on asphalt surfaces.
After joining the ITF, Turkmen athletes received the right to compete as an independent team in various international tennis competitions and win medals in them. The year 2023 turned out to be very successful in this regard, during which tennis players of Turkmenistan won a record number of medals - 39 (12 of them gold, 10 silver and 17 bronze).
The work of the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan in organizing the Central Asian team championship among children under 12 years old in Ashgabat was highly appreciated by the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF).
The regional championship, held in June 2023 in the Olympic village of the Turkmen capital with the participation of teams from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, was called by ATF leaders as a standard and example of organizing tennis competitions.
A notable event in the sporting life of the country was the appointment of the 33-year-old chairman of the Turkmenistan Tennis Federation (TTF) Eziz Dovletov as vice-president of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) and his election to the board of directors of this continental organization.
In addition, Eziz Dovletov was elected to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) committee for the Masters tournaments for 2024-2025.