Judo tournament, friendly volleyball matches, and a chess master class: the sports program is taking place in Minsk as part of the Nizhny Novgorod Days.

      The judo tournament, friendly volleyball matches, and chess master class: the sports program is taking place in Minsk as part of the Days of Nizhny Novgorod, which was officially opened the day before by the head of the city, Yuri Shalabaev, along with the leadership of the Belarusian capital. As reported by the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Nizhny Novgorod Administration, athletes from the Nizhny Novgorod Olympic Reserve Sports School in sambo and judo, as well as representatives from the Minsk City Olympic Reserve Center for Martial Arts, took to the tatami for the judo tournament. At the opening of the competition, the director of Nizhny Novgorod's sports department, Anton Ermakov, noted: "This match between the teams of Minsk and Nizhny Novgorod has international status. I am sure it will become a crucial vector for the athletes' development on their path to high achievements." The bouts were fiercely contested and highly competitive. As a result of the tournament, our athletes won against the "Minsk-2" team with a score of 5:0 but lost to the "Minsk-1" team with a score of 1:4. The outcome was a well-deserved second place. "The atmosphere of the tournament was friendly! We could have won – all matches were equal, but we lost on points. There is work to be done!" said the coach of the Nizhny Novgorod team, Alexander Mokeichev. Volleyball players from the Nizhny Novgorod Olympic Reserve Sports School No. 4 held friendly matches with the volleyball club "Minsk". The matches were dynamic and tense, with all teams showing a worthy level of preparation. The results for the Nizhny Novgorod teams were: boys' team — 1:2; girls' team — 2:1. For the young Nizhny Novgorod chess players from Sports School No. 9, there was a master class from Belarusian chess master Sergey Mikhailovsky. After the lesson, the kids reinforced their knowledge in a training blitz tournament with Minsk athletes from the SDYUSHOR for chess and checkers. "At the master class, Sergey Mikhailovsky talked about psychological preparation, analyzed his games, and interacted with the kids. The blitz tournament took place in a warm atmosphere — there were many interesting opponents at the boards," noted the coach of the Nizhny Novgorod team, Svetlana Vifleemskaya. As a result of the training blitz tournament, our athletes occupied the entire podium: first place was won by Nikolai Chelyadinov — 9 points; second place went to Timofey Goryachev — 8.5 points; third place was taken by Rostislav Morozov — 8 points.

      Let us remind you that the head of Nizhny Novgorod, Yuri Shalabaev, and the chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee, Vladimir Kukharev, signed a new roadmap for cooperation for 2026-2028. The signing ceremony took place as part of the Days of Nizhny Novgorod in Minsk. The document outlines the main areas of joint work and provides for the implementation of more than 40 joint projects and events.