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Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina is leading in 2024 tennis titles - three so far - after a comfortable victory over Marta Kostyuk in the Stuttgart final on Sunday. Rybakina, who has also won titles in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi this year, has now won a tour-leading 26 matches this season. That’s one more than world No. 1, Iga Swiatek of Poland. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated Rybakina on his Instagram page. “The first racket of Kazakhstan has won three titles this season. This is a great success,” Tokayev said. “I wish our Elena new sporting achievements.” Rybakina, 24, was born in Moscow and secured citizenship in Kazakhstan in 2017 after the tennis federation there offered generous support for her career. Rybakina won Wimbledon in 2022 and was runner-up at the Australian Open last year. Ranked No. 4 in the world, Rybakina was in command throughout her 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 27, Kostyuk of Ukraine. "I always believe in myself, of course, but it not only depends on me," Rybakina said. "There are a lot of great players, tough opponents. But I know if I feel fresh, if I'm physically ready, healthy, I'm playing my game, of course I have all the chances to win a Grand Slam on any surface.”
ASHGABAT (TCA) — A delegation of adaptive sports athletes, coaches, and administrators from the United States concluded its 10-day visit to Turkmenistan with a conference in Ashgabat on October 15. During the program, delegation members shared their experience promoting sports inclusive of individuals with disabilities and engaged with their counterparts from Turkmenistan through workshops, master-classes, and friendly competitions in Ashgabat, Mary, Turkmenabat, Dashoguz, Balkanabat, and Turkmenbashy, the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat said on October 17. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — The International Issyk-Kul Marathon of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) "Run the Silk Road" took place on May 11 in the resort town of Cholpon-Ata at Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul Lake. Continue reading
ASHGABAT (TCA) — A new law has come into effect in Turkmenistan that will sharply limit alcohol sales in the tightly controlled Central Asian country, RFE/RL reports. As of January 1, alcohol in the predominantly Muslim country will be forbidden on trains, airplanes, and ferry boats as well as at sports facilities. The country of some 5.6 million people will also prohibit the sale of alcohol on national holidays. Alcoholic drinks are further set to be banned on Saturdays and Sundays in all places except bars and restaurants as of 2021. Currently in the throes of a severe economic crisis with high unemployment and inflation as well as rampant shortages of food items, Turkmenistan is ruled by authoritarian President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, who fashions himself an athlete who excels at many different sports. Berdymukhammedov frequently exhorts Turkmen citizens to engage in sports, and has pledged to make the country tobacco-free by 2025. In his New Year address to the Turkmen nation, President Berdymukhammedov said that a number of the state programs aimed at the development and bringing of health protection, sport, science and education spheres to a new level are implemented in the country, Turkmen state media reported. “We will continue developing and modernizing the health protection system. Special attention will be paid to the assertion of a healthy life style in the society,” the President said. He also mentioned that the United Nations General Assembly declared June 3 as the World Bicycle Day at the initiative of Turkmenistan, adding that “we will pay great attention to the development of sports in new year”.
TASHKENT (TCA) — An Uzbek businessman with alleged ties to organized crime has been elected president of the amateur boxing federation (AIBA), despite fears that his appointment could lead to the sport's ejection from the Olympics, RFE/RL reported. Continue reading
TASHKENT (TCA) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is threatening to drop boxing from the Olympics over "extreme concern" that an Uzbek businessman accused of having ties to organized crime is running unopposed to become president of the amateur boxing association, RFE/RL reports. Continue reading
