The 9th All-Russian Summer Universiade in Ufa has come to an end: 134 universities from 58 regions took part in 18 sports disciplines. The Volga Region University scored 561 points and took third place in the overall standings. The team was represented by 130 students who competed in ten sports.

The swimming team became the leader of the team standings with a score of 1450 points. The athletes won 20 medals, nine of which were gold. Dmitry Drozhetsky, coach of the team, noted that the preparation for the Universiade had been going on for six weeks, including a training camp in Ufa.

The badminton team also showed their skills, taking the top spot in the ranking for the fourth year in a row. Having defeated their opponents from a difficult final set, the badminton players took the gold medal. According to coach Alfred Shamgullin, each member of the national team showed himself a "real fighter" defending the honour of the university.

The sambo wrestlers of the Volga region also achieved high results - they not only won the team "silver", but also set nine personal records. At the end of the tournament athletes received four gold and five bronze medals.

Taekwondists also won the team second place. According to the results of sparring, the students took away two gold and two silver medals. The team silver medal was the taekwondists' first medal at the Universiade - before this season the university was ranked fourth. This year the team was 17 points away from the first place.

The athletics team took third place: the athletes brought two gold, five silver and three bronze medals to the university's collection. Head coach Dmitry Mostyakov noted that the team took sixth place at the last Universiade, so this year's bronze medal is a real victory.

Povolzhskiy rugby players also won the team bronze medal. Everyone gave their best, but the best were: Vladislav Galeyev for the most points scored and Dmitry Denisov for the number of tries scored, and Yusuf Garafiev showed professional skills as a defender, holding back opponents. The women's rugby sevens team took fifth place.

The women's and men's handball teams also took part in the Universiade: following the results of difficult but exciting matches, they came fourth. Goalkeeper Evgeny Gordienko was named the best player of the men's team.

Volga Region University students also competed in other sports: the men's volleyball team and the table tennis team took fifth place, and the Greco-Roman wrestling team came tenth.
 

Author: Adelina Khramova