Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- An open meeting was held at the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports with the Rowing & Canoe Federation of Uzbekistan and the Council of Trainers of the Republican School of Higher Sports Mastery in Water Sports.

The meeting, chaired by the First Deputy Minister of Physical Culture and Sports Ravshan Irmatov, was attended by Executive Officer of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Sultonov, General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan Oybek Kasymov, Director of the Republican School of Higher Sports Excellence in Water Sports Komil Kholmatov, representatives of the Council of Trainers and athletes. The event was watched by the President of the NOC Rustam Shaabdurakhmanov on the ZOOM platform.

The first was the chief specialist of the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports, Akrom Nizametdinov, and provided reports on the representatives of the RCAA on water sports for 2018-2020. This report also analyzed achievements in kayaking and canoeing, rowing and rowing slalom. So far, our rowers have managed to win 5 licenses for the Tokyo Olympics (3 of them were awarded to Paralympics).

Next, the Secretary General of the Rowing & Canoe Federation, the head coach of the national rowing team Vyacheslav Didrich and the head coach of the national rowing and canoeing team spoke about the work done to date and noting that they have the task of winning about 10 licenses for Tokyo Olympics in these areas and that all the necessary conditions have been created for this. It should be noted that at the beginning of the year, with the aim of worthy preparation and participation in international competitions, new, modern boats for athletes were purchased.

Also, during the event, our famous kayaker, two-time world champion, multiple winner of the Asian Games, Vadim Menkov, spoke on behalf of the athletes and shared his opinion on the work that needs to be done to achieve better results.

During the meeting, issues were discussed to strengthen ties between athletes, coaches and the RCAA in water sports, review the working methods and composition of the Council of trainers, attract young, talented and ambitious trainers, use new advanced technologies during training camps, strengthen breeding, also, increase the number of people involved in water sports, prepare a decent reserve for the leading athletes of the national team. Based on this, a recommendation was made to draw up a Road Map.

The main sporting event of the four-year period, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, has been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. But life does not stop, time goes on. This is another chance for our athletes to gather their strength and take advantage of all the opportunities and adequately prepare for the Olympic Games, working on themselves.