Ten Bashkiria athletes will perform at Deaflympics

UFA, 19 July 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Elmira Sabirova/. Ten sportsmen of Bashkortostan went to the 23rd Deaflympic Summer Games, which will be held in the Turkish city of Samsun from July 18 to July 30. As part of the Russian national team, they will compete for medals in badminton, track and field athletics and judo. Total, athletes will compete in 21 sports (16 of which are individual, five are team sports). Before leaving for the Games the sportsmen met with the Minister of Youth Policy and Sports RB Andrey Ivanuta. He wished them luck and victory.

Karina Khakimova will participate in the badminton competition; six athletes will compete in judo in different weight classes. Among them Rustem Akhmetov (more than 100 kg), Mikhail Sidorov (100 kg), Rinat Kadyrov (90 kg), Zaur Bedanokov (81 kg), Rustem Nazmutdinov (62 kg), Liana Timasheva (57 kg). Three athletes will compete in track and field athletics: Julia Abubyakirova (400 m, 800 m, 1500 m), Nelly Erofeeva (800 m, 1500 m) and Denis Khakimov (shot, discus).

As noted in the Ministry of Sport RB, over the past decade Russian Deaflympians have taken the lead in most types of programs of the Summer Deaflympics. This is testified by successful performance of the Russian national team at the 21st Summer Games (Taipei, Taiwan, 2009) and the 22nd Summer Deaflympics (Sofia, Bulgaria, 2013), who won the first place in the unofficial team medal count.