Kostanay Regional House of Friendship held the third annual volleyball tournament "Cup of Friendship". The competition was held in Nazarbayev Intellectual School under the auspices of the project "Single-family sport" of the Belarusian-Baltic community "Asar" within the Year of Youth.
"As our Elbasy, Nursultan Nazarbayev said, young people are a key factor in the competitiveness of our country in the modern world. Everything we do now is done for the sake of your happy life, so that you can fully realize your potential and capabilities. Let this tournament be remembered for its friendly energy, friendly atmosphere and your sports achievements," the chairman of the Kazakh ethnocultural center”, Kalkaman Zhakyp said in his welcoming speech.
Eight teams took part in the tournament: the teams of the Miasin youth wing of Armenian association "Erebuni", Asaba Kyrgyz ethno-cultural association, representatives of Tatar-Bashkir ECA "Duslyk", the team of the youth movement "Zhangyru Zholy", as well as the team of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan. One-name teams were the Korean ethnocultural centre with the surname Kim and the Turkish ECA with the surname Abilov. The tournament was also attended by guests of the competition - the team of M. Dulatov Kostanay Engineering and Economic University.
The games were held in two subgroups in a circular system on two platforms at once. This year the teams were almost equal in strength, however, in any competition there are winners.
The fight for the 1st place was serious - the title of the champion of the tournament was disputed by APK’s team and Kyrgyz ethnocultural association Asaba. None of the teams wanted to give in, however, APK’s team won the victory by just one point. This is the second victory of the national team. Kyrgyz ECA’s team won the silver medal.
Also this year, the organizers have established two additional categories. Thus, according to the panel of judges headed by national judge Yelena Miroshnichenko, Azamat Amangeldy, a player of the Kyrgyz national team, became "Best Binder", and Andrey Klimov, captain of the APK’s national team, became "Best Forwarder". Both athletes received commemorative cups.