Chairman of the Turkmenistan Tennis Federation (TTF) Eziz Dovletov was elected vice-president of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF). He also joined the board of directors of this continental organization. This significant event for the history of Turkmen sports took place at the recent ATF congress in Bangkok (Thailand), where elections of the president and board members of the organization took place, writes “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”.
Founded in 1958, the Asian Tennis Federation is a non-profit organization affiliated with the International Tennis Federation (ITF). It is the continental body of the national tennis associations of Asian countries. The main objectives of the ATF are to develop and improve the quality of Asian tennis.
41 delegates out of 53 present voted for the candidacy of Eziz Dovletov to the board of directors.
Representative of Kazakhstan Yuri Polsky was elected as the new president of the ATF with a result of 34 votes. Prior to this, he served as vice-president of the federation for 4 years.
After electing 14 members of the board of directors, the newly elected president of ATF, taking into account the organizational abilities and professional experience of Eziz Dovletov, appointed him vice president of the organization for a period of 4 years.
The first meeting of the new ATF leadership is scheduled for January 23 as part of the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
At the congress, it was also announced that Eziz Dovletov was elected to the ITF Committee for the Masters tournaments for 2024-2025. This committee is the largest in the ITF and is responsible for organizing the most prestigious competitions.
Eziz Dovletov is 33 years old. He is a master of sports, winner of the Davis Cup IV group of the Asia and Oceania zone, winner of many international and national tournaments. From 2018 to 2021, he was the general secretary of the Tennis Federation of Turkmenistan, from 2021 to 2022, he was vice-chairman, and in July 2022, he was elected for a 4-year term as chairman of the FTT.
This is the first time that a representative of Turkmenistan has been elected to the Asian Tennis Federation, which unites national associations of 54 countries.
Experts predict that the election of a representative of Turkmenistan to the leadership of the authoritative Asian sports organization will give a powerful impetus to the development of tennis in the country. This will facilitate the exchange of experience with neighboring countries, will allow us to further develop sports diplomacy and participate in decision-making on tennis at the regional and continental levels, and host more international tournaments, as was the case this year in Ashgabat.
Let us remind that the Central Asian team championship among tennis players under 12, held in June in Ashgabat, was recognized as the standard for organizing tournaments in Asia at the ITF Congress in September 2023 in Cancun (Mexico).
