Representatives of the national swimming team of Turkmenistan achieved great success at the international tournament held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Over 20 teams took part in the competition to qualify for the World Aquatics Championships to be held in Fukuoka, Japan.

The medals won by the national team of Turkmenistan became a symbol of our athletes' confident steps towards greater success. It should be noted that most of them represent the School of Higher Sportsmanship of Turkmenistan. The tournament became great experience for the Turkmen team coached by the specialists Vladimir Novikov and Mark Pilyugin.

Musa Zhalaev, a soldier of the military unit 1001 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan, won a silver medal in the 100-metre freestyle swimming event. Merdan Ataev, a coach at the Ashgabat sports school 14 of the Main Department on Physical Culture and Sports, a master of sports of international level, earned gold medals for the national team of Turkmenistan in the 200-metre and 100-metre backstroke event. David Akopyan, a representative of the Ashgabat secondary school 15, triumphed in the 50-metre breaststroke event for 12-17-year-old athletes. He also won a bronze medal in the 100-metre breaststroke event. Selim Nazarov, a representative of the Ashgabat secondary school 42, took part in the 100-metre breaststroke event for 12-17-year-old swimmers and took the second place on the podium. Aynura Primova, an 11-grader at the Ashgabat secondary school 68, won a bronze medal in the 100-metre backstroke event.

The achievements of Anastasiya Morgenstern, an 11-grader at the Ashgabat secondary school 12, deserve special mention. A gold medal in the 50-metre freestyle swimming event and a silver medal in the 50-metre butterfly swimming event decorated her neck.

It should be noted that the men's team, namely, Musa Zhalaev, David Akopyan, Arslan Gayypnazarov and Eminguly Ballykov, won silver medals in the 4x100-metre relay event (4 minutes and 7 seconds). Aynura Primova, Valeriya Mirenskaya, Anastasiya Morgenstern and Aynur Merdanova represented our women' team that participated in the similar event and won bronze medals (5 minutes and 9 seconds).

Turkmen Sporty newspaper.