Now it's official: the best students-swimmers are at Satbayev University

“Polytech” team has sincerely congratulated University swimmers team on their successful performance at XII Summer Universiade of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From May 24 to May 29, our swimmers were the first to compete in Aktau and won the cup in the separate sport – swimming.

Competitions were held with the support of RK Ministry of Science and Higher Education, bringing together the strongest student-athletes who competed in 30 competitions in 20 sports. The winners were awarded medals and cups. “Polytech” swimmers competed in both individual and team competitions and won a gold, four silver and two bronze medals, as well as Universiade Cup in the team contest.

Alexander Ascheulov and Danil Borissenko talked about competitions, teamwork in such individual sports as swimming, and how perseverance and self-belief helped students achieve two victories: in the pool and in official communications.

Alexander Ascheulov: We enjoyed the event. A lot of emotions. I have never traveled anywhere before, especially to Universiade and in general to another city, I participated just in Almaty. But not only for me, for others this level was also the first time. And most importantly, we were a very close-knit team. Cool athletes gathered together and supported each other, left no chance of defeat. And it was a lot of fun. Before the final day of the competition, our mascot came running to us. Hedgehog! We took it to the hotel, fed it and let it go. That's all. And we won!

Danil Borissenko: Competitions were very emotional and difficult at the same time. We had to compete with "old school" athletes. That is, with those who were taught according to the old system by old coaches, such as Kutsenko Yuri Sergeyevich. Many of them are no longer alive. Their students are strong rivals. But we also have a great coach, Yuri Mikhailovich Frolov, he invested a lot in the given victory. And as a result, our team did not receive a single comment on any of the distances. Everyone said that we had the best technique.

Alexander Ascheulov: Yes, the fight was very difficult. We even had to defend our victory at the official level. Our opponents, KazNU team, appealed after the awards were presented; we were told that we lost by 4 points. We were very upset, but we did not give up and recalculated the result again.

Danil Borissenko: It turns out that “Polytech” taught us to count and helped us win!

Alexander Ascheulov: Yes, we still found a mistake - one swim was missed during the calculation. As a team, we turned to the organizers and proved our case. And yet they took the cup with them!

Danil Borissenko: This is a very important victory; it gives the right to participate in the Asian Games. We are already starting to get prepared for it, but we still lack the training time that we have, since we do not have our own pool. But even in such conditions, we try to give the maximum. We are “Polytech’s” representatives, we can't just take and lose.

Alexander Ascheulov: The support of your university is very important. We want to thank the guys who had prepared the uniform for us. Uniform is the face of the team, everyone thought that we were a national team when they were looking at us. Immediately you feel more confident. And many thanks to the athletes who also participated in the Universiade. Everyone supported us. It also helped to win.

Danil Borissenko: At the same time, the competitions were organized at the highest level. Competition organizer, Dana from Aktau, did a great job.

Alexander Ascheulov: We want to tell everyone: go in for sports! Sport is life. Movement is life.

Danil Borissenko: And such vivid emotions can be felt only when you play as a team and win, and this can only be obtained in sports.

Congratulations to the young athletes who represent “Polytech.” We wish you further victories and success in the profession! Let your dream of Olympic Medal become a reality!

Personal credit

Danil Borissenko

3^rd place – 50 m butterfly swim

2^nd place – 50 m backstroke

3^rd place – 100 m butterfly swim

Alexander Ascheulov

2^nd place – 50 m freestyle swim

3^rd place – 100 m freestyle swim

Team standings

Satbayev University team: Danil Borissenko, Artem Gukassov, Daniyar Alkenov, Alexander Ascheulov, Matvey Korotkov.

1^st place – combined 50-meter relay

2^nd place – 50 m freestyle relay