Today the Republic of Tatarstan is celebrating its 100th anniversary of sports swimming. As part of this significant date, a water holiday was celebrated at the Palace of Water Sports.
The event was held in the format of a water show, where Tatar pop artists took part, the numbers of which were replaced by swims of athletes from sports schools, Kazan universities and the national team of Tatarstan. After the presentation of the guests of honor of the water sports festival and congratulations from the Minister of Sports Vladimir Leonov, the rector of the Volga State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism Rafis Burganov congratulated everyone on a memorable celebration:
- Today, in connection with a significant date - the 100th anniversary of the swimming federation of our Republic, I would like to note that we have prepared very well for this season: we have replaced the entire water purification system, almost a kilometer of hot and cold water supply pipes. At the moment when Marat Mansurovich went around and “infected” everyone with the idea of holding the World Universiade in the city of Kazan, it probably never occurred to him how massive swimming would become. Now there are about 45,000 regular swimmers. This is probably the most efficient and safest sport that everyone can play. I congratulate everyone and wish good luck to both amateurs and masters of sports!
The ceremony also included an awards ceremony. Students and graduates of the Volga Region University were awarded in the nominations "Best Athletes" in four types of swimming. One of the best swimmers in front crawl was Nikita Korolyov, master of sports of Russia of international class, a graduate of the Volga Region University. Olesya Korchagina, master of sports of Russia of international class, teacher of the Department of Theory and Methods of Water Sports, was recognized as one of the best in breaststroke. In the honorary nomination "The best trainers of the Republic of Tatarstan who prepared the MSIC" were awarded university teachers Maxim Dedlovsky and Dmitry Drozhetsky. In the next nomination "Directors of swimming pools", the director of the sports complex "Burevestnik" of the Volga Region University, Marat Salikhov, went to the award. The final nomination for Best Athlete of the Year was awarded to Irina Zlobina, Year 4 student and Master of Sport of Russia.
