Wednesday’s boxing tournament featured preliminary bouts in men’s weight categories of 46-48, 51, 54, 57, 60, 63.5, 67, 71, 75, 80, 86, 92 and over kg, and women’s weight categories of 45-48, 50, 52, 54, 57, 60, 63, 66, 70, 75, 81 and over kg.
Boxers from Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, China, South Africa, India, Azerbaijan, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and other countries took part in the competitions. The bouts will continue with preliminary bouts on Thursday.
The starting day of the BRICS Games canoe sprint competitions was successful for both Russia and Belarus. In the first Finals, Maksim Oselyodko of Russia won the 200-metres kayaking. Second and third place went to Dzmitry Tratsiakou and Aliaksei Misiuchenka of Belarus.
“The competition is high. This is our third year of racing with Belarusians, and it’s convenient that three athletes at once can contest here in the BRICS Games. If these were European or World Championships, only one person from a country would be allowed to participate. However, the current format allows the competitors to show more”, said the winner.
The 200-metre canoeing race was very tense: the top three medallists were separated from each other by tenths of a second. The victory went to Artur Guliev from Uzbekistan. Sergey Svinaryov of Russia took silver, while Aliaksandr Zubok of Belarus took bronze.
“Winning feels so good, especially with such high competition among the famous athletes. Thank you to my colleagues for the fight, and also thank you to everyone who supported us and cheered for us”, the champion commented.
In women’s 200-metres canoeing, the first and second places were taken by rowers from the Republic of Belarus: Alena Nazdrova and Inna Nedelkina, while the third place went to Ekaterina Shlyapnikova of Russia. In the 500-metres kayaking, the whole podium was taken by Belarusian athletes: Lizaveta Vilkova, Maryna Litvinchuk, and Volha Khudzenka.
The winners of the men’s 1,000-metres canoe sprint competitions were determined last. In kayaking, Uladzislau Kravets (Belarus) took the first place, Maksim Spesivtsev (Russia) finished second, while Dzianis Yermolenka of Belarus was the third. And in the 1,000-metres canoeing, the best were Russian athletes: Ilya Pervukhin (gold) and Ilya Shtokalov (silver), with Ivan Patapenka (Belarus) winning bronze.
The equestrian sports competitions have started at Kazan International Equestrian Sports Complex and will last until 21 June.
Performances in free dzhigitovka individual event took place on Wednesday, with the intermediate top three consisting of Russians: Kirill Nefedov was first with 148.50 points, Grigoriy Feofanov was second (119.50), and Ivan Kapsamun (107.50) was third.
In tent pegging individual event, the first in the intermediate competition was Norman Jim Mostert of South Africa (46 points), the second was Fedor Efimov of Russia (40), and the third was Ihar Piasetski of Belarus (39.5). In the team tent pegging, South Africa also has an intermediate lead: Willem Petrus Nortje and Norman Jim Mostert scored 24 points.
Four sets of medals will be awarded at the BRICS Games equestrian sports on Thursday, 20 June.
Twelve sets of medals were awarded to swimmers on the BRICS Games first swimming competition day.
Sofia Diakova of Russia won gold in the 400-metres freestyle. Nikolai Kolesnikov (Russia) swam the same distance best among men, being a fraction of a second ahead of Stephan Alexander De Freitas Steverink (Brazil). In the 50-metres backstroke, Milana Stepanova (Russia) took the gold. The best in the 200-metres backstroke was Miron Lifintsev of Russia.
“I’m not particularly satisfied with my result. I have to swim, swim, and swim again, there is still a lot to learn. What’s important for me at competitions is how full the stands are and how supportive the spectators are. Everything is very good here in this regard”, said Miron.
German Zazhirskii of Russia won gold in the 100-metres butterfly, while Serafima Fokina (Russia) won gold in the 200 metres. Meanwhile, the Belarusian athletes did better at the breaststroke: Alina Zmushka won the 200 metres and Ilya Shymanovich won the 100 metres.
“We’re getting ready for the Olympics, there will be a couple more starts in the near future, we’re getting in shape for the key competitions. That being said, the atmosphere here is great. Everyone is having fun in the village, taking their minds off the sporting stress, it’s nice. But we still have two more days of competition ahead”, said Shymanovich
Victor Guimaraes Alcara won the 50-metres freestyle, adding another medal to Brazil’s collection. Women’s 50-metres freestyle was dominated by Mariia Poleshchuk of Russia.
The final heat of the men’s 4×100-metres freestyle relay was dramatic. The Russian team had accumulated an advantage of more than a second over their Brazilian opponents by the fourth segment of the race. However, in the last 50-metre stage, the Brazilian made a strong run for the leader, but ended up just 0.01 seconds behind. As a result, Russia came first, Brazil was second, and Belarus was third. In the women’s relay, the victory of the Russian team was more confident, with the athletes from Brazil taking the second place and the South African team rounding out the top three.
The winners of 10 sets of awards in the BRICS Games women’s wrestling were determined on Wednesday. Representatives of the Russian national team won seven gold, one silver, and one bronze medal.
Up to 50 kg
1. Elizaveta Smirnova (Russia)
2. Tian Ai Shi (China)
3. Kseniya Stankevich (Belarus)
“I’m happy that I was able to fulfil the hopes of my coaches. The competition was quite tough, so I can’t say that the victory came easily. Everything at the BRICS Games is very well organised, all the conditions have been created: accommodation, meals, entertainment programme. I liked everything”, said Elizaveta Smirnova, winner of the Russian Championships.
Up to 53 kg
1. Elnura Mammadova (Azerbaijan)
2. Jin Zhang (China)
3. Milana Dadasheva (Russia)
Up to 55 kg
1. Aleksandra Skirenko (Russia)
2. Aryna Martynava (Belarus)
3. Gultakin Shirinova (Azerbaijan)
Up to 57 kg
1. Alesia Hetmanava (Belarus)
2. Marina Simonyan (Russia)
3. Wenrui Hai (China)
Up to 59 kg
1. Svetlana Lipatova (Russia)
2. Nadzeya Bulanaya (Belarus)
3. Dilfuza Aimbetova (Uzbekistan)
“It feels amazing to win at home with such stands. There were a lot of close fans of mine. I wanted to win and show that wrestling is also developing in Russia. This medal gives me a big boost ahead of new starts. I’d like to mention the excellent organisation of the tournament. As for my opponents, I’m sure that the competition will increase with each next Games”, said Svetlana Lipatova, silver medallist of the European Championship.
Up to 62 kg
1. Ekaterina Koshkina (Russia)
2. Nigina Sabirova (Uzbekistan)
3. Juliana Oliveira Santos (Brazil)
Up to 65 kg
1. Valeria Dondupova (Russia)
2. Tatsiana Paulava (Belarus)
3. Dinora Rustamova (Uzbekistan)
Up to 68 kg
1. Vusala Parfianovich (Russia)
2. Yuqi Rao (China)
3. Hanna Sadchanka (Belarus)
Up to 72 kg
1. Olesya Bezuglova (Russia)
2. Yelena Shalygina (Kazakhstan)
3. Svetlana Oknazarova (Uzbekistan)
Up to 76 kg
1. Anastasiya Zimiankova (Belarus)
2. Culmaral Yerkebayeva (Kazakhstan)
3. Jingru Sun (China)
“I haven’t realised the victory yet, there are no emotions. Everything will dawn on me tomorrow, I think. Something didn’t go according to plan on the mat, but I was able to get my bearings, plus the coaches helped, so I thank them. The level of competitors was quite high, representatives of all countries were ready to win”, said Anastasiya Zimiankova, bronze medallist of the 2018 European Championship.
Preliminary and semi-final bouts of Greco-Roman wrestling took place as well. Sergey Emelin, Russian Olympic medallist; Dzmitry Zarubski, Belarusian champion; and other athletes will compete for gold medals on Thursday.
Team tennis competitions have come to an end at the Kazan Tennis Academy with two sets of medals being awarded to the winners. The teams of Russia and Belarus met in both finals, while the bronze medals in both men’s and women’s categories went to the Indian team.
The national teams of Russia and Belarus met in the Men’s Finals. In the first meeting, Ilia Simakin lost to Erik Arutiunian in the opening set (4:6), then won several match points in the second game tiebreak (7:6, 12:10), and afterwards gained the advantage and left his opponent no chance, scoring 6:1. Danil Panarin defeated Daniil Ostapenkov in two sets and brought gold medal to the Russian team.
The battle for gold in the women’s event was no less intense. Polina Kudermetova defeated Evialina Laskevich in three sets (6:2, 5:7, 7:5), with the Russian needing a medical timeout in the course of the match. Elena Pridankina defeated Darya Khamutsianskaya with a 2:0 score (6:3, 6:0), sealing another win for Russia at the BRICS Games.
“I managed to pace myself and take to the court at my peak. Obviously, I was far from calm on the inside. I got all the deciding balls; the serve was right. The second set was almost impeccable. I feel motivated to keep on working. It was interesting to play at the final stage, there were no easy opponents. But I was at my peak, so I succeeded. The best part about the BRICS Games was the Village. Thanks to the organisers of the evening events. Everything was incredible”, Elena Pridankina remarked.
All three golds on the first fencing competition day were won by the Russians, who faced their compatriots in the Finals as well. In épée, Georgiy Bruev had an equal encounter with Artyom Sarkisian, while the bronze went to Mark Semanenka (Belarus) and Aleksei Udovichenko (Russia). Marta Martyanova was the strongest in foil, defeating Anna Solovyeva in the Finals. Bronze medals went to Vladislava Penyushkina (Russia) and Darya Ulasava (Belarus).
Among women’s sabre fencers, all four Russian athletes entered in the tournament made it to the Semi-Finals. Bronze went to Veronika Bulukova and Yana Egoryan.
“All four are ours: that’s what matters. After all, we didn’t come here for ourselves but to represent the country. And that’s very important. It’s good that we didn’t face each other in the draw, thus reaching the Semi-Finals together”, shared Yana Egoryan. The gold medal was won by Sofya Velikaya, who defeated her compatriot, Olga Nikitina, with a 14:12 score.
Two more sets of medals in the Blitz chess discipline were awarded on Wednesday in IT Park named after Bashir Rameev.
The men’s tournament was won by the Russian grandmaster Andrey Esipenko (9 points), who was ahead of his compatriot, Vladislav Artemiev (8.5), and Maksim Tsaruk of Belarus (7.5) after 11 rounds.
The women’s tournament was dominated by Ekaterina Lagno of Russia (10.5 points), who won her second gold medal at the BRICS Games 2024. Second and third places went to Chinese competitors: Yuxin Song (9) and Qi Guo (8.5).
“I’m very happy with my performance today, especially after not giving my best in rapid chess the day before. All the games were tough, the opponents were serious. I’m glad I won. I’d like to commend the players from China, Uzbekistan, and India, they all competed very well. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to play with Vlad, the gap between us was only 0.5; our face-to-face meeting decided today’s results. This is a very important tournament for me: I’m playing for the national team for the first time since 2021, so I take the Games very seriously. I think the fact that chess is included in the BRICS Games programme is extremely important; dare I say that I’ve been preparing for the competition my whole life”, stated Andrey Esipenko, Russian Grandmaster, after winning the Blitz.
The competitions will continue on Thursday, 20 June.