Turkmen tennis players won silver medals in three events at the Open Dushanbe Championship U14 held in the capital of Tajikistan.
The competition brought together 88 boys and girls from five Central Asian countries, as well as Belarus, Russia and Canada. The latter three countries were represented by one tennis player each.
Two silver medals were brought to our team by 13-year-old Emirhan Rustamov, seeded second. The 8th grade student of Ashgabat secondary school No. 12 achieved this success first in singles, and then in doubles, performing in a duet with 12-year-old 7th grade student of Ashgabat secondary school No. 86 Suleyman Khudayberdiev.
In the first round, Emirhan won against Muhammadyusuf Mukimjonzoda (Tajikistan) - 6:1, 6:2, in the second round he easily defeated Sanzhar Juassov (Kazakhstan) - 6:1, 6:1. In the quarterfinals, our compatriot was stronger than Alshinhan Mukhamedkali (Kazakhstan) - 6:2, 6:1, and in the semifinals, in a difficult three-set match, he defeated Bekarys Kuandyk (Kazakhstan) - 1:6, 7:6(5), 6:4. In the final, E. Rustamov lost to Amir Askar (Kazakhstan) - 3:6, 3:6 and settled for second place.
In doubles, Emirhan Rustamov and Suleyman Khudayberdiev won against the international duo Ilyas Mammetgulyev (Turkmenistan)/Aldiyar Nariman (Kazakhstan) - 6:1, 6:4 in the first match, which turned out to be quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Emirhan and Suleyman broke the resistance of Sanzhar Juassov and Bekarys Kuandyk (Kazakhstan) on a super tiebreaker in the third set - 1:6, 6:3, 10:8, and in the final lost to Amir Askar and Arken Syzdykov (Kazakhstan) - 2:6, 2:6 and became silver medalists.
Another silver medal for the Turkmen team was brought by 11-year-old Nazli Khudaygulyeva. This success was achieved by the 5th grade student of Ashgabat secondary school No. 87 in doubles competitions, performing in a duo with Ksenia Semenova from Kazakhstan. N. Khudaygulyeva and K. Semenova won against the international pair Ainur Agamyradova (Turkmenistan)/Darya Kozhukhanova (Kazakhstan) - 6:1, 6:2 in the first match, which by the will of the lot turned out to be quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Nazli and Ksenia confidently beat the sisters Vlada and Yuna Degtyar from Kazakhstan - 6:3, 6:0, and in the final lost to Vlada Kuzmenko and Sofia Pak (Kazakhstan) - 1:6, 3:6 and at the awarding ceremony took the second step of the podium.
This success of our young tennis players is shared by their parents and coaches. Nazli Khudaygulyeva is trained by Myalik Mametgulyev. Suleyman Khudayberdyev is engaged in tennis at the 11th complex sports school in Ashgabat under Gurbanberdi Gurbanberdiyev. And Emirhan Rustamov is improving his skills at the Ashgabat Tennis Academy under the guidance of the head coach of the Turkmen national team Mirali Gasanov.
Yuri Polsky, President of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), who recently paid a short-term visit to Turkmenistan, highly appreciated the work of the national Tennis Federation. According to him, an example of this is the good result shown last year at the Central Asian Championship U12 by the Turkmen boys' team. At the past competitions, for the first time, it defeated the Uzbekistan national team and also for the first time reached the final stage, which took place in Astana. 14-year-old Ilima Huseynova, who is in the TOP-4 of Asia in her age group, also achieved great success in 2023.
And now the young tennis players from Turkmenistan achieved another success, this time at international competitions in Tajikistan.
