Young athletes from Turkmenistan triumphantly completed their performance at the West and Central Asian Tennis Championships for players under 14 years of age, which took place in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, with representatives from 13 countries participating.
Following the two-week qualifying competition – the ITF Asia 14&U Development Championships, which had official status with the International tennis federation and served as one of the stages of selection for the 2027 Wimbledon and Australian Open junior tournaments – our compatriots twice rose to the top step of the podium in singles and doubles.
In the singles, Nazli Hudaygulyyeva, a 7th-grade student from Ashgabat Secondary School №87, won two gold medals. In the final of the first week, the pupil of the coaches Meylis Orazmuhammedov and Yuriy Rogusskiy won a strong-willed victory over the representative of Jordan Ayasofia Gokashau – 0:6, 6:1, 6:3. In the second week of the tournament, she defeated Talia Al-Armouti (Jordan) 6-2, 6-0 and Mariam Kamareddine (Lebanon) – 6:3, 6:2, she reached the final again, where she confidently beat Jordanian athlete Ayasofia Gokashau – 6:3, 6:2.
Nazli performed no less successfully in doubles with Sulgun Ishangulyyeva, a pupil of «Jahan Döredijilik Merkezi», who trains under the guidance of honoured coach of Turkmenistan Jennet Hallyyeva and Yuriy Rogusskiy. In the final of the first week, Nazli and Sulgun defeated Lebanese representatives Maria El Hachache and Mariam Kamareddine – 6-3, 7-5. In the second week of the championship, the Turkmen duo won in the semi-finals against Jana Hakim and Fatima Albaajari (Saudi Arabia) – 6:2, 6:2, and in the decisive match for 1st place, he beat the Lebanese couple Mariam Kamareddine/Maria El Hachache – 6:3, 6:3.
In this way, having become the absolute champion of the two-week competition cycle and the winner of four gold awards, Nazli Hudaygulyyeva officially confirmed her leadership status and won a ticket to the final part of the Asian Championship. To date, the 13-year-old tennis player is ranked 9th in the Asian junior ranking at the age of 14.
The 2026 ITF Asia 14&U Development Championships (ITF Asia 14&U Development Championships) is a prestigious regional tennis tournament for juniors, including regional qualifying stages in Cambodia (South, Southeast and East Asia) and Bahrain (West and Central Asia). The best players will compete in the final round of the Asian Championship, which will result in tickets for the junior tournaments Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2027.
The success of the Turkmen tennis players in Manama has become another evidence of the effectiveness of the state policy for the development of mass sports and high-performance sports, as well as the high potential of the domestic tennis school.
