Turkmen tennis players will take part in the ITF Masters World Team Championship for the first time, which will be held from 9th to 16th of March in Manavgat, Türkiye, the third largest city in Antalya Province.
The tournament, which starts on Sunday, has gathered a total of 126 teams that will compete for the title of world champions in the age categories of 30, 35, 40 and 45+ years.
Our team received an invitation to take part in such a prestigious tournament, which will be held according to the Davis Cup rules, last year during the visit of the President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) David Haggerty to Turkmenistan.
Our compatriots will perform in the 30+ category, in which 12 teams, divided by lot into 4 groups, will fight for the title of the strongest. Group «A» will feature Germany, Argentina and Portugal, Group «B» will feature Great Britain, Turkmenistan and Canada, Group «C» will feature the USA, India and South Africa, and Group «D» will feature Türkiye, Ireland and Sweden.
The group winners will advance to the playoffs.
Our team at the tournament is represented by famous former and current athletes: the country's number one tennis player, five-time ex-champion and winner of the last two Turkmenistan Cups Yuriy Rogusskiy, coach of the 11th sports school of the Main Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Ashgabat, bronze medalist of the 2024 Turkmenistan Cup Gurbanberdi Gurbanberdiyev, as well as previously included in the top 200 athletes according to the ITF Junior rating under 18, master of sports, former number one tennis player of Turkmenistan Alexander Ernepesov and another former number one tennis player of the country, and now chairman of the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan, vice-president of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) Eziz Dovletov. It is noteworthy that the last two in 2013 as part of the Turkmenistan national team became winners of the Davis Cup in Group IV of the Asia and Oceania zone in Dubai (UAE). And now they have gathered together again in the main team of the country to show off their skills.
The functions of the captain of our team will be performed by the head coach of the men's national team and the tennis academy «Ashgabat», the only holder of the PRO Level certificate in Turkmenistan, which allows him to work with professional players in any country in the world, Mirali Gasanov.
The first match at the ITF Masters tournament, the Turkmen tennis players will play against the strong team of Great Britain.
