Swimming will be among the most medal-rich sports at the 3rd CIS Games, with 41 medal events to be contested.
Azerbaijan will be represented at the 3rd CIS Games by a team of 13 swimmers, who are already in the active phase of their preparation for the competition.
Head coach of the national swimming team, Rashad Abdurahmanov, spoke about the team selection process and the goals set for the upcoming Games.
“Once the athlete quotas for the 3rd CIS Games were determined, we began selecting candidates from the national team. In addition to the quotas, we had to consider the age categories: for boys — born in 2009–2010, for girls — 2010–2012.
The initial lineup featured four boys from the national team — Oktay Huseynov, Suleyman Ismailzade, Farhad Shirmamedli, and Yegor Maynitskiy. Another four were selected based on the results of nationwide time trials, bringing the total number of boys on the team to eight.
Regarding the girls, the team already included three athletes born between 2010 and 2012 — Vlastilina Khasyanova, Mehri Abdurahmanli, and Maryam Javadova. To complete the lineup, we held additional selection trials and brought in two more girls, who were not previously part of the national team but will compete at the 3rd CIS Games.”
According to Abdurahmanov, the team is training twice a day at the Aquatic Palace, with Sundays off.
“We’ve already begun direct preparations for the Games. After the first training phase, the athletes had 10 days of rest before resuming practice.
On September 2, we plan to head to Ganja for a training camp, where we will prepare in the same pool that will host the swimming competitions of the Games.”
The head coach emphasized that the team will be competing for medals.
“I believe our prospects are very good. We expect strong performances from Suleyman Ismailzade and Oktay Huseynov, as well as success in the mixed relay (two boys and two girls). We also plan to compete in relays across different strokes. Our main hopes are in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events, along with the 400m individual medley. For us, a good result will be reaching the finals — but of course, the ultimate goal is to win medals. ”
The Games will bring together top athletes who have been preparing specifically for this competition, particularly from Russia and Belarus. After the European Junior Championships, Belarus made the CIS Games their main focus. The level of competition will be tough — Russians, Belarusians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tajiks, and Turkmens are all in strong form.
Still, we will do our best to deliver strong performances and compete for medals,” he concluded.
