Five athletes will represent the Vitebsk region at the I Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore

July 26, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. Five athletes in four sports will represent the Vitebsk region at the I Summer Youth Olympic Games, which will be held from August 14 to 26 in Singapore. This was announced today at a press conference by the head of the department of the physical culture, sports and tourism department of the regional executive committee, Alexander Zhuravsky, BELTA correspondent reports. The national team includes Svetlana Makshtareva and Oleg Ryabtsev (trampoline gymnastics), Konstantin Khviyuzov (cycling), Evgeny Zalessky (athletics) and Yaroslav Pronin (swimming). According to the coach of the trampolinists, Vladimir Shulikin, the probability of successful performance of Vitebsk trainees is high, despite the tough competition, especially among young men. "Svetlana will be able to compete for prizes, and if she shows everything she can do, then a medal is guaranteed for her," the coach is confident. Among the main competitors, he named athletes from China, Russia, Canada and the USA, however, our trampolinists are ready to compete with them on equal terms. In the competitions among young men, Oleg Ryabtsev is tasked with entering the top eight finalists. "Oleg is a rapidly progressing athlete, he has made significant progress over the past year, but he still lacks 'flight hours'," believes Vladimir Shulikin. At competitions of this level, much depends on the psychological state of the athletes, and the Vitebsk athletes are in a fighting mood and will try to worthily represent both the country and the region in the international arena, he emphasized. In turn, the physical culture department of the regional executive committee has tried to provide the most comfortable conditions for the preparation of the national team members for the Olympics, noted Alexander Zhuravsky. Support is also provided to sports schools in order to increase the number of representatives of the Vitebsk region in the national Olympic team in the future. This year, seven sports schools have been transferred to the balance of the regional sports department from the education department; inventory is currently being completed and the scope of financing for their reconstruction, major repairs, as well as equipping with modern sports equipment and facilities is being calculated. In addition, this year it is planned to complete the major overhaul of two sports facilities in the regional center, on the basis of which an Olympic reserve school for martial arts will be opened. The issue of transferring the "Raubichi" sports complex in the Gorodok district to district communal ownership is under consideration, where it is planned to create an Olympic reserve school for winter sports, added Alexander Zhuravsky. The first Summer Youth Olympic Games are held by decision of the International Olympic Committee. In total, more than 3.5 thousand athletes (aged 15 to 18) in 29 sports, including 201 disciplines, will take part in the Olympics. Along with sports competitions, an extensive cultural and educational program will be organized during the Olympics, the purpose of which is to introduce young athletes to the Olympic values, expand cooperation, and strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between athletes from different countries.