From December 7 to 10, 2022, Khabarovsk hosted the “Far East Cup” – an interregional sports event for people with hearing impairments. The event took place at the Universal Regional Sports Complex. Dmitry Rebrov, the President of the ARSFSD, and Vyacheslav Ershov, the First Vice-President of the ARSFSD, attended the event.

This is the first event of its kind in the Far Eastern Federal District. Its goal is to unite the regions, promote deaf sports, and identify the best athletes in the region. The event was organised by the All-Russian Federation of Deaf Sports, the Ministry of Sports of the Khabarovsk Krai and the Khabarovsk Krai Federation of Deaf Sports. The Far East Cup became an important step in the development of physical culture and deaf sports in the region, as well as a new starting point for strengthening interregional sports cooperation.

On the eve of the event, the leadership's visit began with a tour of the Far Eastern State Academy of Physical Culture. The guests had the opportunity to see how the deaf wrestlers train, the sword fencing department, the diagnostic centre, and the local sports museum. It is noteworthy that this university, which is under the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, is the only academy in the Far Eastern Federal District wh ere three deaf students are successfully trained.

On the same day the delegation, accompanied by Amina Kataeva, Director of the Khabarovsk Regional Adaptive Sports School of the Paralympic and Deaflympic Reserve, Aldar Khandamaev, Chairman of the Khabarovsk Federation of Deaf Sports, and Olga Sviontkovskaya, Chairman of the Khabarovsk Regional Branch of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, visited the Regional Martial Arts Centre and got acquainted with the infrastructure of the sports facility. During the tour of the regional single combat centre, the Federation leadership met with Dmitry Chikunov, Minister of Physical Education and Sports of the Khabarovsk Krai, who had come for the opening of the Judo Championship of the Far Eastern Federal District.

On December 8th, Dmitry Rebrov, the President of the ARSFSD, and Vyacheslav Ershov, the First Vice-President of the ARSFSD, attended the opening ceremony of the Far East Cup, an interregional physical fitness event in volleyball for the deaf. This event was significant not only for Khabarovsk but also for the entire Far Eastern Federal District. It brought together participants from various regions, including the Sakhalin and Amur regions, as well as teams from Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

After the start of the volleyball tournament, the President of the ARSFSD took part in the plenary conference of the Far Eastern Federal District titled “Sambo is the Future”. Then, he attended a meeting on the issues and prospects for the development of deaf sports in the region.

The third day of the ARSFSD delegation's visit was spent visiting two boarding schools in Khabarovsk for deaf children: No. 1 and No. 6. These regional educational institutions provide adapted basic general education programmes, have their own hearing and speech rehabilitation centre and a pre-school department. Dmitry Rebrov and Vyacheslav Ershov had an open discussion with the students and it turned out that many of them are very active in various sports. The children talked about their hobbies, their plans for the future and received answers to their questions. They discussed current problems and needs with the school management and the possibility of support from the Federation.

Meanwhile, the second round of the volleyball competition began at the Universal Regional Sports Complex. The tournament concluded with the Khabarovsk Krai-2 team from Komsomolsk-on-Amur taking the top spot. They defeated their rivals from the Amur region in the final. The Sakhalin Region team rounded off the top three. Ivan Kolesnikov was named best defender and Andrey Kirosirov best forward. At the end of the competition, ARSFSD President Dmitry Rebrov attended the awards ceremony for the winners and runners-up of the Cup, and also presented letters of commendation to the Deputy Minister of Sport of the Khabarovsk Krai, Head of the Department of Physical Culture and Sport Alexey Shlyamin, and Director of the Khabarovsk Krai Adaptive Sports School of the Paralympic and Deaflympic Reserve Amina Kataeva.

− This is, of course, a historic moment. The visit of the leadership of the All-Russian Federation of Sports of the Deaf opens great prospects for the development of deaf sports in the Far East and in Khabarovsk Krai in particular. They were able to see our opportunities, appreciate the work done and get acquainted with the existing problems in the development of deaf sports in the Far East. I would like to note in particular that we have already managed to make plans for cooperation for the next two years, − said Amina Kataeva, director of the regional sports-adaptive school of the Paralympic and Deaflympic reserve.

Dmitry Chikunov, Minister of Sports of Khabarovsk Krai, Valentina Maltseva, First Deputy Minister of Sports of Khabarovsk Krai − Head of the Department of Legal Work, Strategic Planning, Digital Transformation, and specialists of the Khabarovsk Krai Adaptive Sports School of the Paralympic and Deaflympic Reserve were honoured with ARSFSD awards.

− We would like to thank the Ministry of Sport of Khabarovsk Krai for organising the tournament. We hope that such events will be held here in the future. We are already planning to hold the All-Russian GTO Festival in 2026 (TN: GTO is Russian abbreviation which stands for “Ready for Labour and Defence”), and maybe we will hold the Russian Championships here. And I wish the athletes to continue their sport, to take part in new competitions, − said Dmitry Rebrov.

At the end of this eventful day, the ARSFSD delegation and all the participants of the competition went on an informative excursion to the local history museum named after Nikolai Grodekov. The museum, established in 1894, is regarded as an invaluable gem of Khabarovsk and the largest repository in the region of Priamurye. Its collection comprises an astonishing half million exhibits.

Text: Nurlan Tazhigulov, Andrei Popov

Photo: ARSFSD

Translation: Daria Kudelina