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Dmitry Vikharev: "When people begin to specify beach tennis from beach volleyball, then we will understand that we grew up."
Wednesday, 16 November 2016 10:29

Dmitry Vikharev: "When people begin to specify beach tennis from beach volleyball, then we will understand that we grew up."

Before the Christmas holidays and the end of the season of beach tennis, we were able to talk with the Vice-President of Russian tennis federation Dmitry Vikharev. The Grand Prix in Kazan, the world team championship in Moscow, the Russian Club Cup and many more in our interview.

Btrussia: This year the Kazan Gran Prix beat all prize money records, when offered 50,000 dollars and beating the famous tournament Aruba beach tennis open. Is Russia planning to continue this tradition? What awaits us in 2017?

DV: The Financing of sports in Kazan in the forefront of the regions, and we hope that it stays, and next year we will continue this experience. Everyone liked the concept of the tournament, we had a lot of promotion and reviews in Media, also we nominate the tournament as "the best tournament", and I hope that hard work will be rewarded.

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Btrussia: Moscow successfully hosted the 5th anniversary of the world team championship this year, which was attended by a record number of teams. We know that in 2017, the tournament will also stay in Russia. Will there be any changes in the organization?

DV: Yes, we have an agreement with the ITF that we are continuing our contract for another 2 years. As for the rules, we wouldn't want to change it much. Due to the high occupancy (33 teams this year), we talked about to organize a regional qualifying competitions, as it does in other team sports. Where in order to participate the World Cup, you should first qualify for it on your continent. However, at this stage we faced some problems, for example, the European Championship, which is traditionally held in September-October can’t be moved this time. Last year the European championship 2016 was planned in Turkey, and has been moved to another country as well as many other competitions. Bulgaria took European championship in beach tennis, but took for two years. And when we began to talk about the transfer at the earliest possible time, it became clear that the Bulgarian tennis Federation has different vision and from an organizational point of view, it is quite difficult. In this regard, we have decided that next year (2017) we will leave the current format, but then go back to the discussion about regional qualification.

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Btrussia: Not so long ago held a meeting of RBTT (Russian beach tennis tour). What are the goals, sets and direction of beach tennis in the upcoming year?

DV: We're expanding and growing, but we need to react to this growth. We agreed that we need updated rating system. We have a partner who will provide the software (this direction is managing by Ekaterina Davydova). We want to manage the registration numbers system or the players and it will require some fees. Now we manage the technical aspects of this issue.

Btrussia: This year in test mode started the Russian Club championship in beach tennis. What kind of development is planned in this direction?

DV: Yes, in the last few months of this year the championship was held in the test mode. We keep this test mode for next year, but we are going to put Rus Club Cup in the Russian BT calendar, it means that the matches will give players national ranking. Throughout the year we will see how it will be implemented and, if we see a positive trend, in the future it will be possible to apply to the Ministry with the including championship to the official calendar plan and appropriation of Federal status.

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Btrussia: Professional direction of beach tennis is really growing very fast in Russia, are there some plans to support the Amateur level?

DV: I think at this stage it is possible to add an Amateur category in the existing competition. But I don't see a separate number of fans who’s ready to play in a certain format and certain regulations, to participate in competitions, and travel all over the world for this. From my experience of the relationship with Amateur direction in tennis, I can say it is a special segment, which is in contrast to the professional, Junior, veteran, wheelchair tennis and beach tennis, and it is hard to manage. People play in their free time and for them the existence in the framework of the rules is difficult.

Btrussia: We heard that the Russian beach tennis championship 2017 can be transferred to Rybinsk. Is it really so? And what is the reason for this decision?

DV: Yes, there is such idea and we are working on it. In any sport, the development of new regions brings benefits. Players who develop beach tennis in Rybinsk, build a base, and are ready to take the championship. The direction of beach tennis is still young, and the development of new locations and attract new people and attention will be good. When you say "beach", people respond: "Yes, volleyball, I know"... That's when we get rid of this, and people will ask: "volleyball or tennis?", then we can say that we have overcome the barrier and really grew up.

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  • Reporter BTRussia.com Ekaterina Bobkova
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Пляжный теннис в России и мире. BTRussia отслеживает общемировые тенденции развития пляжного тенниса и формирует библиотеку наиболее полезных и интересных материалов.