The capital of the Republic of Mordovia warmly welcomed participants and guests at the tenth anniversary All-Russian Summer Spartakiade in Deaf Sports, held fr om 1 to 5 November. Around 655 young athletes fr om 37 regions of the country showcased their skills at this grand sporting event. This year, the Spartakiade featured an expanded program encompassing eight sports, including athletics, swimming, futsal, volleyball, table tennis, chess, orienteering, and taekwondo. Seven sports took place at the versatile sports complex “Mordovia”, while orienteering competitions unfolded amidst the forested terrain of the ski and biathlon complex.

The opening ceremony of the All-Russian Summer Spartakiade in Deaf Sports began on 2 November at Athletics Stadium of the Sports Complex. Dignitaries present included Irina Dolotkazina, Deputy Minister of Sport of the Republic of Mordovia, Dmitry Rebrov, President of the All-Russian Sports Federation of Sports of the Deaf, Vladimir Veselli, Vice-President of ARSFSD, Valery Krutov, Director of the sports complex “Mordovia”, along with Olga Zubarovskaya and Andrey Bogatyrev, Chairmen of the regional branches of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf and the ARSFSD.

A welcoming address fr om Russian Minister of Sport Mikhail Degtyarev was read by Irina Dolotkazina:

“On behalf of the Ministry of Sport of Russia and myself personally, I extend a warm welcome to the participants, organisers and guests of the 10th All-Russian Summer Spartakiade in Deaf Sports! As President Vladimir Putin has highlighted, “it is people with disabilities who show an inspiring example of strength of spirit, willpower, resilience and unwavering optimism, enabling them to pursue their dreams in life despite challenges.” The Spartakiade serves as a valuable platform for young athletes to explore their abilities, gain important competitive experience, and make friends fr om different regions of the country. Our government will continue to create the necessary conditions for people with disabilities to actively participate in physical culture and sports. I wish everyone faith, hope, and love, as our shared love for Russia and sports brings us together.”

Dmitry Rebrov, ARSFSD President, wished the participants good luck and thanked the organisers for their assistance with this wonderful event:

“Dear participants, guests, and organisers of the competition! I am glad to welcome you in Saransk, a city that can be rightfully called one of the centres of Russian Deaf Sports! Competitions of the 10th Summer Spartakiade will be your first step toward national, international, and Deaflympics victories. You will have to develop your best physical and psychological qualities, learn to lose, and learn to win. I would like to thank the Ministry of Sport of Russia, the Federal Centre of Sports Reserve Training, and the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Mordovia for their assistance in organising and hosting the competitions. I wish you success and great achievements!”

Notably, the Spartakiade categorized participants into two age groups for most sports: younger (10-13 years old) and older (14-17 years old). The Spartakiade was impeccably organized, with live broadcasts of athletics, swimming, futsal, and volleyball allowing fans across the country to follow the intense competition in real time.

Now, let’s delve into the competition results and key highlights across various sports:

Swimming

Swimming is one of the most popular sports at the Spartakiade, with participants from 26 regions of Russia - from the Kaliningrad Oblast in the west to the Primorsky Krai in the east. Over the three days of the competition young swimmers competed in heats in all disciplines at distances from 50 to 200 metres, held separately in two age categories: from 10 to 13 years old and from 10 to 17 years old.

The relay races, held on the first two days, were mixed, wh ere two regions - Saratov Oblast and Moscow, shared the deserved victories. On the first day it was the Saratov swimmers who won, and on the second day it was the Moscow swimmers. On the final day of the competition, the Saratov Oblast took the lead in the girls’ relay, while the Moscow team won the boys’ relay. Indira Pastakhaeva fr om Saratov had the most outstanding results, winning medals in both age groups in freestyle. The results in the team swimming standings were as follows: Moscow took the lead in the under-13 category, while the Chelyabinsk Oblast won the medals in the senior category.

Athletics

In athletics, 23 regions took part, which is also quite a large number. In this sport, there were two age categories: 10-13 year olds and 14-17 year olds. There were races at distances ranging from 60 metres to 1,500 metres, as well as technical disciplines - long jump, high jump, shot put. On the last day, the participants competed in mixed relays of 4x200 and 4x400 metres. These two types of relays are different from each other: in the 200-metre relay, speed played the main role, and in the 400-metre relay, endurance. As a result, the fastest team was the one from the Tyumen Oblast, and the most enduring team was the quartet from the Republic of Bashkortostan! The St Petersburg team took first place in the overall standings and won the lion's share of the awards in the other disciplines, as well as both relays, winning silver and bronze medals. Second place went to the Republic of Bashkortostan and third place to the Tula Oblast.

Volleyball

The 10th All-Russian Summer Spartakiade on Deaf Sports kicked off with volleyball matches - all tournaments started early from 9 am! Girls from six teams competed in this discipline: Voronezh, Kaluga, Novosibirsk Oblasts, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Republic of Bashkortostan and Mari El. The group matches were played over two days, and the semi-finals were held on the final day, with the teams from Kaluga and Novosibirsk Oblasts winning easily. It was these two teams that had to settle the perennial head-to-head clash, with the Siberians emerging victorious (for the second time) in a dramatic final. In the third-place play-off, the girls from Krasnoyarsk beat their Mari El counterparts to claim the bronze medal.

The top four players in the tournament were Karina Chepakova (Republic of Mari El), Varvara Emelianenko (Krasnoyarsk Krai), Daria Potekhina (Kaluga Oblast), Taisiya Alekhina (Novosibirsk Oblast).

Futsal

Futsal, a favourite sport of all children, has also been included in the programme! Nine teams took part: the Republic of Crimea, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula, Chelyabinsk, Samara, Voronezh, and Moscow Oblasts, and the Republic of Bashkortostan. Over the course of two days, tough matches were played in three groups of three teams each. On the last day, the teams battled it out for the top spots. The teams were divided into three divisions: gold, silver and bronze, so all teams received medals! The best team in the gold division was the Tula Oblast, followed by the Moscow Oblast and the Samara Oblast.

The best players in their respective roles were

Top Scorer - Egor Evdokimov (Tula Oblast)

Player - Egor Aristov (Moscow Oblast)

Goalkeeper - Daniil Andreev (Samara Oblast)

Sports orienteering

Unlike all the other sports, the orienteering competitions were held in a forest area at the ski and biathlon complex. A total of 51 orienteers from seven regions participated in them. There were only three disciplines at the Spartakiade: sprint, classic and relay (3 persons). The Republic of Bashkortostan, which promises to become a strong orienteering team in the future, took first place in the relay race in the younger age categories. In the older age categories, the teams from Moscow and St. Petersburg took the podium. In the team standings, as in the adult competitions, the leaders were St Petersburg, Moscow and the Sverdlovsk Oblast.

Taekwondo

There were two age categories in the Taekwondo competition: 12-14 years old and 15-17 years old. Eight athletes competed in the 15-17 year old category, and more than 25 athletes competed in the 12-14 year old junior category. Athletes from nine regions took part in the competition: the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Krasnodar; the Krasnoyarsk and Primorsky Krais; the Rostov, Penza and Tyumen oblasts; and the city of Moscow. On the first two days there were fights in the Kyorugi discipline. On the last day of the tournament there were Poomsae competitions in both age categories. The team from Tatarstan came first in the junior category, while the team from the distant Primorsky Krai won the senior category.

Table tennis

The competition of small racket masters was attended by 66 young participants from 13 regions. During the three days of the competition, the prizes were awarded in four disciplines of table tennis: singles, doubles, mixed, and team. In individual competitions, athletes were divided into two age categories: 10-13 years old and 14-17 years old. Strong tennis players from Kemerovo topped the team competition among girls, and athletes from Chuvashia won the boys' competition.

Chess

18 boys and 12 girls from seven regions took part in this intellectual Spartakiade: Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Republics of Mari El, Mordovia, and Bashkortostan, as well as the Tyumen and Rostov Oblasts. According to the results of the tournament, the Republic of Mari El demonstrated excellent results and took the 1st place! The second and third places went to the teams from Moscow and Rostov region respectively, who also demonstrated impressive performances.

Overall, the team standings for the Anniversary All-Russian Summer Spartakiade in Deaf Sports are as follows:

1st place - Moscow

2nd place - St. Petersburg

3rd place - Republic of Bashkortostan

PHOTO ALBUM-1 PHOTO ALBUM-2

VIDEO OVERVIEW OF THE 10TH ALL-RUSSIAN SUMMER SPARTAKIADE

Text: Nurlan Tazhigulov, Maria Mazhenina

Photo: Sofia Rumyantseva, Nurlan Tazhigulov

Translation: Daria Kudelina