On 15 January, President Dmitry Rebrov and First Vice-President Vyacheslav Ershov paid a four-day working visit to the capital of Tomsk Oblast. The purpose of the leadership visit was to get acquainted with the sports infrastructure of the city and to support the development of deaf sports in the region.

On the first day of the visit, the representatives of ARSFSD, accompanied by the Chairman of the Tomsk regional branch of ARSFSD, Konstantin Sherstobitov, visited the sports complexes "Zvezdniy" and "Kristall" and the athletics arena "Garmonia". They also met with the head of the Adaptive Sports Department of the Tomsk Oblast Sports Training Centre.

The guests then spent time with young people and visited the local boarding school for children with hearing impairments, where they talked to the students and presented the principal, Irina Shakhmaykina, with a letter of thanks.

A meeting was also held with the head of the local branch of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf (ARSD), Anna Popello, where the current situation in the region was discussed and close cooperation in future plans was outlined. As a result of the fruitful meeting, President Dmitry Rebrov presented letters of thanks to the heads of the organisations supporting deaf sport in the region.

On 16 January, the leadership of the All-Russian Deaf Sports Federation, represented by President Dmitry Rebrov and First Vice-President Vyacheslav Ershov, took part in the opening ceremony of the Tomsk Oblast Curling Championship. As part of the opening ceremony, there was also an award ceremony for athletes who met the GTO standards, where twelve of them were awarded the highest honours - gold medals and certificates. Then, the guests from Moscow talked to Konstantin Sherstobitov, Honoured Curling Coach of Russia, and Olga Radionova, Honoured Swimming Coach. Representatives of the ARSFSD presented the coaches with letters of appreciation for their contribution to the development of deaf sports.

On 17 January, President Dmitry Rebrov and First Vice-President Vyacheslav Ershov met with Maxim Maximov, Head of the Tomsk Oblast Sports Department, and Konstantin Sherstobitov, Chairman of the Tomsk Oblast branch of the ARSFSD. During the meeting they discussed the issue of possible holding of All-Russian competitions in the sports facilities of Tomsk Oblast, namely in the aquatic centre "Zvezdniy" and in the sports complex "Kristall". The parties also agreed on joint cooperation and presented each other with souvenirs.

On the fourth and last day of the visit the regional championship of deaf sports in curling was held in Tomsk.

Places were awarded as follows   

1st place - Team "Zvezdnyi Put" (Vera Sukh, Danila Ivoylov)

2nd place - Team "Kristall" (Valentina Sainakova, Vadim Mikulin)

3rd place - Team "Puma" (Roman Shavgenin, Miroslava Biryuk).

The winners and prize-winners were awarded by the ARSFSD President Dmitry Rebrov and the Chairman of the Tomsk regional branch of ARSFSD Konstantin Sherstobitov.

Text: Olga Troynikova, Nurlan Tazhigulov

Photo: Konstantin Sherstobitov

Translation: Daria Kudelina