Turkmen tennis players won gold medals in three types of the program and one bronze medal at the international tournament among juniors under 14 years old, which took place in the Thai province of Nonthaburi, which is part of Greater Bangkok.
The competition was held under the auspices of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) and brought together boys and girls from 12 countries - Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, China, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka.
Two gold medals were brought to our team's collection by 13-year-old Ali Geldiyev. The 9th grade student of the Young Olympians Training School achieved this success first in singles and then in doubles, performing in a duet with 14-year-old 9th grade student of the Joint Turkmen-Russian Comprehensive School named after A.S. Pushkin, Kerimgeldi Guldurdyyev.
In the first two matches, Ali won against representatives of Thailand F. Kowitwattanachai - 6:0, 6:2 and Denis Khiawraksa - 6:0, 6:4. In the quarterfinals, he left no chance for the Chinese Liu Zhang - 6:0, 6:1. In the semifinals, our compatriot beat the second seeded Ahmad Saruji from Saudi Arabia - 6:2, 6:1, and in the final he defeated the first seed Shiva Mohan (Hong Kong) - 6:3, 6:1 and rose to the top step of the podium.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first big success of the pupil of the Lebap tennis school. In 2023, as part of the junior team of Turkmenistan, he won a silver medal at the Central Asian Championship (under 12) in Ashgabat, and last year he won two gold medals in singles and in pairs with Yunus Annamyradov at the 3rd Asian Junior Tournament among players under 14 in Doha (Qatar).
In doubles at the tournament in Thailand, Ali Geldiyev and Kerimgeldi Guldurdyyev won in the first match against Abdul Kader and Rewaan Amarasinghe from Sri Lanka - 7:5, 6:2, then in the quarterfinals they easily dealt with Anas Alzahrani and Ahmad Saruji from Saudi Arabia - 6:1, 6:1. In the semi-finals, our tennis players beat the first-seeded brothers L. and F. Kowitwattanachai from Thailand – 6:1, 6:2, and in the finals, they beat the fourth-seeded Thai duo Denis Khiawraksa and S. Laoamornpanich – 7:5, 6:4.
Another gold medal for the Turkmenistan team was brought by fourth-seeded 13-year-old Aylara Kakabaeva. The 9th-grader of the capital's School for Gifted Children named after Atamyrat Nyyazov achieved this success in singles. On her way to the podium, she won five victories, beating Amata Yingviriya (Thailand) 6:2, 6:1, I. Deshasate (Thailand) – W.O. (opponent did not come out for the game), Chen Yilin (China) – 7:5, 6:0, Lam Cheuk (Hong Kong) – 6:3, 6:2 and in the final, first-seeded P. Daungkhlaw (Thailand) – 1:6, 6:1, 3:0 Retd (withdrew from further play).
The winner of the bronze medal in our team was a 9th-grade student of the Joint Turkmen-Russian Comprehensive School named after A. S. Pushkin Anna Ponyatova, who won the match for 3rd place against the representative of Hong Kong Lam Cheuk - 4:1, 3:5, 4:1.
The President of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) Yuriy Polskiy, who visited Turkmenistan on a short visit last year, highly praised the work of the national Tennis Federation. According to him, an example of this is the good result that the boys' team of Turkmenistan showed at the 2023 Central Asian Championship under 12 years old. At the past competition, they beat the national team of Uzbekistan for the first time and reached the final stage for the first time, which took place in Astana. And this year, team of the girls achieved the same success at the Central Asian Championship in Fergana, winning the right to compete for the first time in the Asian Team Championship U12, which will be held in Singapore.
Recently, a 10th -grade student of Ashgabat Specialised Secondary School № 42, Ilima Guseyinova, reached the semi-finals of the preliminary round of the junior qualifying tournament Roland Garros among tennis players under 16 years of age from Western and Central Asian countries, which took place in Almaty.
And now young tennis players from Turkmenistan have achieved another success, this time at international competitions in Thailand.
turkmenistan.gov.tm
