Performance of Turkmen swimmers at the Open Championship of Uzbekistan, which was held in Tashkent on April 12 – 17, resulted in 7 various medals and 5 national records.

More than 160 sportsmen from four countries – Afghanistan, India, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan participated in the tournament, which is a qualification round not only for the Olympic Games in Tokyo but also for the short course swimming competitions (25 meters) in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and water sports championship in Fukuoka (Japan).

The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs of Turkmenistan has informed that three medals were won by Merdan Atayev. 25-year old Master of Sports of International Class from Ashgabat has won gold medal in 200-meter backstroke (2 minutes 11.10 seconds) and two silver medals in 50-meter backstroke (26.11 seconds) and 100-meter backstroke (54.91 seconds). At the same time, the result in 10-meter distance is a new record for Turkmenistan.

Merdan Atayev is a participant of 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, two-time Silver medalist in 50- and 100-meter backstroke of 2017 Islamic Games in Baku, he performed in the final of Summer Asian Games in Inchhon (The Republic of Korea) in 2014 where he was the seventh in 100-meter distance and in Jakarta (Indonesia) in 2018 where he was the eighth in 50-meter distance.

One gold and one silver medal were won by student of Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports Darya Semenova. 18-years old Master of Sports from Ashgabat, who represented Turkmenistan at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro since she was 14, has won silver medal in 100-meter breaststroke (1 minute 17.67 seconds) and gold in 200-meter mixed style with new record of Turkmenistan in 2 minutes 28.84 seconds. She has set another national record in qualification 50-meter butterfly with the result of 30.00 seconds. In the final of this program, Darya was the fifths with result of 30.15 seconds.

Two bronze medals for National team of Turkmenistan were won by 11-grade student of secondary school no. 18 in Ashgabat Musa Jalayev. 18-year old Master of Sports had this success in 50-meter backstroke (27.37 seconds) and in 800-meter freestyle with new record of Turkmenistan – 9 minutes 19.5 seconds.

Another national record was set by M. Jalayev in the final 50-meter butterfly swim, having finished the sixth with time 25.50 seconds. He also was the ninth (24.26 seconds) in another program in 50-meter freestyle.

All three of our prize winners are the students of the School of Highest Sports Skills. Merdan Atayev and Darya Semenova are trained by Honored Coach of Turkmenistan Sergey Epifanov and Musa Jalayev by Dmitry Novikov.