Today, Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, supervisor of the Volga Federal District, visited Tatarstan as part of his working visit to the finals of the second stage of the Friendship Games, an international water sports competition.

Together with Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Dmitry Chernyshenko met with athletes and awarded six medal winners in the 400m butterfly stroke event for women and 200m backstroke event for men. A total of 84 sets of medals were up for grabs.

"Today we finished the second round of the new international tournament "Friendship Games". The competition was bright and eventful. Athletes have shown excellent results. Within two stages several world and European records were broken. There is a third stage still ahead of us. More than 1100 athletes from 30 countries are expected to take part in the third stage. We expect that athletes will also set new records," said Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Recall that the third stage of the competition will be held from 8 to 12 December 2022.

"It's great to see the Friendship Games gaining popularity. Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, is a host city for international competitions, including the FINA World Championships. We have modern sports infrastructure, and the Aquatics Palace is the largest indoor water sports facility in the country. We look forward to new achievements in sports!" Rustam Minnikhanov added.

As earlier reported, 1,146 athletes from 22 countries took part in the second stage of the tournament, including Russian swimming stars Evgeny Rylov, two-time Olympic champion, silver and bronze medallist of the Olympic Games, and Kliment Kolesnikov, silver and bronze medallist of the Tokyo Games, World and European champion Maria Kameneva, Olympic silver medallists in relay Ivan Girev, Mikhail Vekovishchev, Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Olympic bronze medallist in Rio de Janeiro Anton Chupkov, European champion, world championship winners Evgeniya Chikunova and Arina Surkova.

For reference:

"Friendship Games" is an international competition in swimming, synchronised swimming and diving held in Kazan from July to December 2022. The World I stage of the Friendship Games was successfully held from July 19 to August 3. There were 984 athletes and 237 teams from 16 countries competing, and 376 sets of medals were awarded.

Stage II of the competition was held from 10 to 25 November.

Press Service of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan