vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #151 / Special reports / Reading article...

Krai officials, national figures, and former stars gathered in Vladivostok Sept. 27 and 28 to participate in a tennis tournament commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Pacific Fleet.

The tournament, sponsored by local businesses, featured 16 doubles teams from nine countries, including Russia, Vietnam, the United States and Italy. A gala concert on Saturday evening drew a considerably larger crowd than the tournament itself, which was mostly attended by journalists hoping to catch a glimpse of the event’s biggest star, Federal Duma Deputy Alexander Korzhakov.

Korzhakov was paired with Elena Polyakova, who played on the professional women’s tennis tour from 1977 until 1987.

The duo took second place in the tournament, losing in the third set to Yalta Vice Mayor Sergei Ryashinov and Alexei Borovikov, president of Yalta-based industrial-agricultural firm Inagra.

Still, Korzhakov wasn’t upset by the defeat. “It’s not victory that matters here, it’s participation – sport is the messenger of peace,” he said.

As for playing with Karzhakov, Borovikov said, “He’s a very pleasant man to play with and it is very interesting to talk with him. He is the pride of our nation.”

Korzhakov was removed from his post as head of presidential security earlier this year after alleged complicity in the embezzlement of $500,000 from the Kremlin. Copies of his Yeltsin biography, Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn Until Dusk, were on sale for 70,000 rubles ($12) near the tennis courts throughout the weekend, and Korzhakov autographed copies between matches.

Other players included Misuhiro Ichiyanagi, from the Daiwa Far East and Eastern Siberia Fund, Rector of the Vladivostok State Medical University Yury Kaminski, and Moscow artist Yefim Smolym.

Organizer Andrei Alekseyenko, Director of the Association for Physical Culture and Sports, said he initially hoped to draw more national figures to the tournament including actor Nikolai Karachintsov, but Moscow’s 850th anniversary kept many big names busy in the west.

But that didn’t stop Alekseyenko from bringing out the Pacific Fleet brass band and infusing all the pomp and ceremony into the event that it could stand. Fleet conscripts lit a torch to start the tournament, and the 34 participants marched onto the courts in a parade reminiscent of the Olympic games.

“There weren’t many famous names at the tournament,” Borovikov said. “But I thought it was well organized.”