From 2 to 7 October, Volgograd hosted the 20th Spartakiad of the Union State, timed to the 80th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazi forces by Soviet army in the Battle of Stalingrad. Voronezh State University represented Russia in the football tournament. For five days of the tournament our team did not lose a single match and did not let a single goal be scored. In a fierce struggle for third place, the VSU team won on penalties.
The award ceremony was held at the main stadium of Volgograd, the Volgograd Arena. The athletes were awarded medals by Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation, Aliaksandr Dorokhovich, First Deputy Minister of Sport and Tourism of Belarus, Andrey Bocharov, Governor of Volgograd Region, and Dmitry Mezentsev, State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
The fastest, strongest, and most skilful football players represented the VSU students’ sports club “Khitschnye Bobry” (Predatory Beavers) in the competition. The team included Aleksey Kalashnikov, Dmitry Esaulov, Kamil Selimov, Nikita Bezruchko, and Aleksey Logunov from the Faculty of Physics; Yaroslav Nikolaev, Aleksandr Prilepin, and Yaroslav Tyurin from the Faculty of Economics; Stepan Zakharov from the Faculty of History; Anton Matveev and Dmitry Dokuchaev from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics; Daniil Zyuban from the Faculty of Computer Sciences; Maksim Sedykh from the Faculty of International Relations; and Semyon Roman from the Faculty of Journalism.
The team was coached by the staff of the Department of Physical Education and Sports: senior lecturer Aleksandr Sikorsky and lecturer Mikhail Utkin. Polina Labutina, a student of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics, was the photographer of the delegation.
All matches of the VSU team were broadcasted by Danila Kovalev, a student of the Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, and Irina Ryabykh, the chair of the VSU students’ sports club “Khitschnye Bobry”. The head of the delegation was Igor Kotok, specialist of the Department of Student Affairs.
“These five days were quite emotional, and I am very glad that our university had the honour to represent Russia at the international level. The guys proved themselves to be professionals with a great will to win: we didn’t concede a single goal, and we didn’t lose a single match. The professionalism, calmness, and endurance of the coaching staff were amazing. As early as on the first day of the competition Aleksandr Sikorsky said: “We will win the prizes!”. I congratulate the team, it is a great merit of each of the members, they have honourably represented our university, region, and country,” commented Igor Kotok, specialist of the Department of Student Affairs.
