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Republic of Tatarstan Swimming Cup (2020)

10-12 September 2020

Swimming Cup of the Republic of Tatarstan (50m) was held on September 10-12 in the Akcharlak pool in Kazan. Competitions are aimed at identifying the best swimmers of the Republic of Tatarstan. For the athletes of the FINA Development Centre, this is an opportunity to feel the competitive spirit and see the result of training in Kazan.

Swimming pool «Akcharlak»

This is the first competition for the FINA Development Centre scholarship holders in 2020 after a long break. Bisma Khan (Pakistan) was the first to compete in the 100m freestyle, showing a result of 1.03:75. The results of Davor Petrovski (North Macedonia) and Musa Zhalayev (Turkmenistan) at the same distance are 56.97 and 54.57, respectively. The competition day was completed by Arina Baikova (Latvia). She finished second overall, swimming the 200m backstroke in 2.18:15 (Personal Best).

Day 1

'It's great that after half a year of waiting, the long-awaited competitions began! I am very glad', – said Bisma Khan.

The second competition day opened with a 50m backstroke distance. The FINA Development Centre was represented by Bisma Khan (Pakistan) and Musa Zhalaev (Turkmenistan). Bisma swam in 31.80, Musa set a personal best – 27.86.

Arina Baikova (Latvia) with time of 2:05.13 became the best in the 200m freestyle event. 'There have been some mistakes that need to be worked on, but overall I'm happy with the result. The coach praised me for how I swam the first half of the distance', commented Arina.

The last was Musa Zhalaev, his time in the 200m freestyle was 1:59.40.

The final day turned out to be successful for the FINA Development Centre scholarship holders.

Day 3

Bisma Khan (Pakistan) – 27.92, Musa Zhalaev (Turkmenistan) – 24.71 and Davor Petrovski (North Macedonia) – 26.50 competed in 50m freestyle. Bisma has improved her personal best.

At 50m butterfly Musa had an excellent race, swam at 26.30 (personal best), Davor's result was 27.52, while in that event Bisma showed a time of 29.84.

There was no equal to Arina Baikova (Latvia) in the 400m freestyle. She excelled with a result of 4:21.48 close to her personal best and just a two seconds out of the Latvian national record.

"Competitions revealed what need to be paid attention to and what to work on during trainings. Despite this, the athletes showed good time at the distances, close to their best results. Arina, Musa and Bisma have managed to set personal bests in several events. We will correct technical mistakes and prepare hard for the next events in order to be in the best shape," said Gulnara Garipova, head coach of the FINA Development Centre in Kazan.

Lev Kameshkov, chief referee of the competition, official of the all-Russian category:

"The Cup of the Republic of Tatarstan is the first official swimming competition in Russia in indoor swimming pools after a long break due to the pandemic. This is a significant event, which brought together the leading swimmers of the Republic of Tatarstan – 283 participants, including 38 masters of sports and 8 masters of sports of international class. Athletes, coaches and judges missed competitions. It was a difficult period for the athletes and the lack of sufficient training practices affected the results, but nevertheless, everyone is happy with new starts and eyes light up".

Results of the FINA Development Centre athletes