Turkmenistan will sign a plan with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for the development of this sport in our country until 2028. The relevant agreements were reached between the Chairman of the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan Eziz Dovletov and ITF President David Haggerty during negotiations held on the sidelines of the International Tennis Federation General Assembly in Hong Kong, China.
According to the reports by the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan (TFT), the document being prepared for signing is aimed at strengthening cooperation with the largest authoritative international sports organization, which unites 213 national tennis organizations.
As is known, in March of this year, the President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) David Haggerty together with the President of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) Yuri Polsky visited Turkmenistan for the first time. During the two-day visit, the guests were received by the President Serdar Berdimuhamedov. During the meeting, the interest of the ITF and ATF in developing fruitful cooperation with Turkmenistan was expressed, where special attention is paid to stimulating and supporting sports, affirming the principles of a healthy and active lifestyle in society.
Having emphasized that our country has achieved great success in this area, Mr. David Haggerty presented the head of state with an ITF Certificate for his contribution to the development of tennis in Turkmenistan.
In the same year, the Tennis Complex of the Ashgabat Olympic Village was recognized by the Asian Tennis Federation as the “Educational and Training Center of the Asian Region.” The corresponding certificate was presented on June 1 at a ceremony in the Ashgabat Olympic Village by the ITF representative for the development of tennis in Asia, Seyed Amir Borghei.
During the talks in Hong Kong, the heads of the TFT and ITF discussed the possibility of using the Asian Region Training Center in Ashgabat to implement joint projects in 2025, including holding training seminars for coaches, as well as developing tennis for people with disabilities. The issue of inviting a foreign specialist to improve the level of training of turkmen tennis players — members of the national team — was separately raised.
At the end of the meeting, the ITF President wished the turkmen team success in the upcoming Davis Cup tournament, which will be held from November 17 to 25 in Isa Town (Bahrain).
At the end of the ITF General Assembly, a tennis tournament in doubles was organized among the heads of national federations, in which more than 80 participants took part. And it is gratifying that Eziz Dovletov was awarded first place and a gold medal, performing in a duet with the representative of the Latvian Tennis Federation Irina Kuzmina-Rimsha.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first such success of the head of the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan. Last year, he won the same tournament in a pair with Aditya Khanna from India among the delegates of the ITF Congress in Cancun, Mexico.
34-year-old master of sports, winner of the Davis Cup Group IV of the Asia and Oceania zone, winner of many international and national tournaments Eziz Dovletov has been heading the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan since 2022. Last year, at the Asian Tennis Federation Congress held in Bangkok, Thailand, he was appointed Vice President of the ATF and elected to the Board of Directors of this continental organization, as well as to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Committee for holding Masters tournaments for 2024-2025.
