On September 4, the 1st Smart City. Live with Sports All-Russian Games have come to its end. According to the results of the Games, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District took the third place in the team competition, Leningrad Region took the second position, and Saratov Region became the winner. SSU athletes made a considerable contribution to the victory of their region.

Thirteen SSU students competed in the youth league of Saratov Region national team. In total, the team consisted of 150 people who played in eleven sports competitions in basketball, football, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, multi-athlon of physical training standards, chess, hockey, swimming, xtreme power, and computer sports.

The Saratov-1 volleyball team included Alexander Nikishin, a master’s degree graduate of the Institute of Sports and Physical Training, and Amir Abdukarimov, an undergraduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics. The athletes won 3:0 in the first game against the Saratov-2 team. The second day of the competition turned out to be no less successful, the team, which included SSU students, won all the games of the youth league and took the first place in the team competition.

Alexander Nikishin told us which plans his team had set before the start of the match. ‘There was only one idea – to win the game with a good score. Thanks to well-coordinated work, it was achieved, and we won without conceding a single point.’

SSU chess players became champions of the Smart City Games three times. The competitions were held on September 3 and 4 at the Slovakia Hotel, three games daily with a time control of 15 minutes and 10 seconds added for each move. Twenty-eight athletes from seven regions competed in the tournament: Leningrad, Penza, Saratov, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen Region, Perm Krai, and the Komi Republic.

Several students of Saratov University took part in the youth chess league: Maxim Kulayev and Ruslan Kavyyev (the Institute of Sports and Physical Training), Maria Kombar (the Faculty of Computer Sciences and Information Technology), and Lia Chekmaryova (a master’s degree graduate of the Institute of Physics).

According to the results of two days, the first place and the gold cup were awarded to the duo of Maxim Kulayev and Maria Kombar. Ruslan Kavyyev won the silver medal as part of the Engels team. Lia Chekmaryova and her partner took the third position.

Maxim Kulayev won an absolute victory and scored six possible points. At the same time, he noted the high level of all athletes. ‘The games were tight, tense, but I managed not to lose a single game. Our team was awarded with a gold cup. It is beautiful but very heavy.’

Maria Kombar shared her emotions after the awarding ceremony. ‘The games were difficult, but this makes them even more interesting. The competitors prepared well, played hard. I won four games out of six, Maxim won six. We performed well.’

In the badminton competition, Dmitrii Baryshev, an undergraduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, took the first place in the finals of the Badminton Youth League in singles with a score of 21:9 and 21:10.

On the last day of the Games, Dmitrii Baryshev, an undergraduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, and Stanislav Proskura, an undergraduate of the Institute of Sports and Physical Training, were awarded with gold medals for winning the finals of the Badminton Youth League in doubles. Their score was 21:10 and 21:12.

In the youth league, the SSU team won the 3×3 basketball competition in all four games. The Saratov-1 team included Kirill Kazarin, an undergraduate of the Faculty of Geography, Herman Guyo, a master's degree student at the Institute of Physics, and Viktor Yermakov, a master's degree student of the Institute of Sports and Physical Training. The team’s coach is Ilya Gusev.

The rivals of the SSU basketball players were the Saratov 2, Saratov 3, and Saratov 4 teams. They included experienced athletes from other universities of the city, who struggled to become the best team.

We should note the success of the Saratov Region Youth Football League. The team became the absolute winner at the last games in a series of 8×8 football matches at the Lokomotiv Stadium. The undergraduates of the Institute of Sports and Physical Training Nikita Solomatin and Andrei Surkov played in the team.

On the first day, the teams of Samara, Moscow Region, and Chelyabinsk played in football matches. The first game of the youth team of Saratov Region ended with a victory over the national team of the media with a score of 8:0.

Nikita Solomatin spoke about his observations on the winning match. ‘I can note the complete dominance of our team. At first, we thought that the opponent would be much more dangerous, but, in fact, it was easier to play than we had thought.’

In the semi-finals, the youth league of the region played two matches: against the national team of Moscow Region and the national team of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters. Both games ended with the victory of the players from Saratov: the first – with a score of 7:1, the second – with a score of 3:1.

On the final day of the competition, the final match between the Saratov Region Youth League and the Saratov Regional League took place. Despite the missed goals in the second time (score 1:2), the youth team was able to recoup, and the match ended with its victory with a score of 4:2.

During the Games, there were gala matches in basketball, football, and hockey with the participation of Russian sports stars, as well as a 10 km race for everyone. In many of the meetings SSU undergraduates and graduates competed with the famous stars of Russian sports, and they represented Saratov Region very well.