Turkmen tennis players achieved notable success at the International ATF 14&Under Category A Tournament, which concluded today in the city of Isa Town (Bahrain). Held under the auspices of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), the competition brought together representatives from 17 countries.
Twelve-year-old Sulgun Ishankulieva, partnering with Jordanian player A. Gokashau, won silver medals in the doubles event. On their way to this achievement, the Turkmen–Jordanian duo successively defeated Russia’s T. Korotchenko and Taisia Zubkova (6:2, 6:0), the international pair of Aubrey Kadir (Indonesia) and Zara Firman (Malaysia) (6:2, 6:2), and in the semifinals secured a hard-fought comeback victory over the Indian pair Padmapriya Ramesh / Shazfa S.K. (4:6, 7:6(1), 10:6). In the final, Ishankulieva and Gokashau lost to the Russian–Iranian duo S. Himmelreich / Aylin Mohammadian (3:6, 3:6), finishing in second place.
Very intense competition for the prizes unfolded in the girls’ singles event, which featured players from Bahrain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, and Japan.
In this event, the best result among the Turkmen players was achieved by Nyazli Hudaykulieva, a 7th-grade student at Secondary School No. 87 in Ashgabat. In her opening match, she defeated Jaani Bhandari (India) 6:0, 6:4; in the second round, she overcame Russia’s S. Himmelreich 6:4, 6:0; and in the third round, she beat India’s Shazfa S.K. in three sets, 7:6(6), 3:6, 6:4. In the semifinals, Nyazli lost to the tournament winner Mengxiao Li (China) 1:6, 4:6, and in the match for third place was defeated by Chiho Shirai (Japan) 5:7, 2:6, finishing among the top four players. This is a solid result at the highly competitive “ATF Bahrain 14 & Under Category A” tournament for Hudaykulieva, who will turn only 13 years old on February 19.
It should also be noted that the “ATF Bahrain 14 & Under Category A” is one of the ranking tournaments whose successful participation over the course of the year provides an opportunity to compete in the junior events of Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2027. At the start of the tournament in Bahrain, Nyazli Hudaykulieva ranked 19th in the Asian junior rankings, while Sulgun Ishankulieva was ranked 52nd. It is expected that after the ranking points from this tournament are awarded, Nyazli will move into the top 10 players in Asia.
Despite their young age, Nyazli Hudaykulieva and Sulgun Ishankulieva have been successfully competing in international tournaments for several years under the guidance of Yuri Rogussky, the head coach of the Turkmenistan women’s national team. Last year, as part of the Turkmenistan women’s team at the Central Asia U12 Championship in Fergana, they defeated their Uzbek rivals for the first time in history and secured a place in the Asian finals.
