At the end of the year

Sport at JINR: medals, repairs, plans

On the eve of New Year, it is customary to sum up the results. Our correspondent Olga Tarantina asked Director of the JINR Sports Complex Vladimir LOMAKIN to characterize the outgoing year 2023.

If we sum up the sporting results, we can say that we have had great success. The JINR team once again has become the winner of the city sports competition among physical education teams and ahead of schedule. During the year, all teams have performed excellently: volleyball, table tennis, football, individual veteran athletes have also performed well and the Institute's employees have shown great results at Russian and even international competitions. Inna Tikhomirova has won four gold medals at the international table tennis tournament in Turkey, she has participated in Russian competitions and for the second year, she claims the title of best veteran athlete. Members of the "105th Element" team Irina Migulina and Elina Kasyanova (VBLHEP), Svetlana Smirnova (DRS) have won medals at the Russian Cup. We have a strong team of weightlifters, led by the permanent captain and organizer of all competitions Ermuhammad Dushanov (MLIT). There are successes in other sports and attendance at our sports facilities increases.

This year, we have carried out extensive maintenance and repair work. Although all of them are important to us, the first place, of course, is the renovation of the JINR Sports Club. It is 62 years old and this is the first time, such a large renovation has been carried out, not regarding the roofing and cosmetic work carried out earlier. The playing hall and balcony for audience have been completely renovated, all old layers of paint have been removed from the walls and the ceiling has been painted in several layers. Tennis players complained about the old lighting, but today, a new system has been installed, based on measurements from specialists. The entire heating system of the hall has been replaced, a modern ventilation system, a new fire alarm and video surveillance system have been installed. The highlight of the entire renovation was the new surface - French Taraflex, on which the world's largest competitions are held. We were worried how our tennis players would accept it, but they have been playing on it for a month now and have no complaints about the ball's bounce or the lighting. The hall turned out to be beautiful, wonderful and looks modern.

On 2 December, we held the first official volleyball match between the JINR team and the "Veterans" team in this hall. The participants of the match were very pleased with the hall. Director of the Institute Grigory Trubnikov also appreciated his transformation. Our plans are to work on the first floor of the JINR Sports Club. It is long overdue not only to replace the exercise equipment that is already 30 years old, but also to expand their fleet and reconstruct the associated premises: locker rooms, showers, toilets. The weightlifting hall that hosts fairly large competitions with the participation of athletes from different cities in the region looks unpresentable. It is necessary to replace the heating pipes laid under and inside the building more than 60 years ago.

There was hope that we would begin with the help of other organizations, to renovate the yacht club, the old wooden buildings of which spoil the view from the Volga and the embankment. There is a beautiful project for a new yacht club, but things have not moved forward yet.

There has been no major work in the pool this year; minor cosmetic repairs have been carried out on our own. This year, we have made a technical entrance to the pool. When "Archimedes" began to be built in 1965, they did not think that the equipment would ever require replacement and they designed one door that was also located above the level of the turbine room. Our water filters are two meters in diameter and will not fit through a standard door. They are worn out, patch after patch and there are eight of them in total and they will not last long. There are other large materials that cannot be carried through this standard door. Everywhere in the pools of our project: in Elektrostal, Moscow and other cities such an entrance has been made. And in general, the "doubles" of "Archimedes" are either already out of order, or were overhauled 15-20 years ago.

There has been no major work on the Stadium "Nauka", yet minor repairs are constantly carried out outside and inside the premises. We have replaced the old windows with double-glazed windows in the table tennis room. In the premises of our former workshops there are two clubs - artists' and amateur photographers'; we currently do a lot of renovations there.

In a word, we work and we are looking forward with optimism. We express our gratitude to JINR Directorate for their attentive attitude towards us and great help. We congratulate all the staff members of the United Institute on the upcoming New Year and look forward to seeing them at our sports facilities!