The Day of Knowledge and Student Youth was celebrated in Turkmenistan. To mark this occasion, there were grand openings of several educational institutions, which include the Magtymguly secondary school in “Ergesh Sultanov” Dayhan association in Khatlon region of Tajikistan, as well as in Ashgabat - the complex of buildings of the Specialized Military School named after Berdimuhamet Annayev of the Ministry of Defence of Turkmenistan, secondary schools in Ahal, Lebap, Mary regions, kindergartens and other facilities were also timed to this date. In keeping with a long-standing and beloved tradition, all first-graders received brand-new laptops.

All this together became a wonderful gift on a wonderful holiday, which in Turkmenistan is called the Day of Knowledge and Student Youth.

Shortly before this date, dedicated to knowledge and noble activities to disseminate it, the Turkmen capital hosted an awarding ceremony of the intellectual and educational contest organized by the ORIENT website and the USAID Trade Program Central Asia within the framework of the export ecosystem development initiative.

The real history of our “Export Activity” quiz began on 6 November last year. It was on that day that the corresponding announcement was published on the ORIENT website.

According to the terms and conditions, it was conducted throughout the year, approximately once every three months. In total, there were four stages. At each stage, it was necessary to answer thirty questions.

The game, in general, was not difficult: since for each task related to export activities, two solution options were offered, one of which was correct. So, if I understand probability theory correctly, then it is possible to guess the answers to approximately 15 questions by randomly clicking, without even reading the assignment.

But was it? And was it easy to navigate between the Scylla and Charybdis of objective knowledge and the prompting of intuition?

In each of the four stages the winners were determined not for idle curiosity, but with the ultimate goal of awarding them with gifts.

Let's start from the beginning. The first triumphant of the first round was the coordinator of the individual enterprise “Beyik Yupek Yoly” Guychgeldi Sytdykov from Ashgabat - he correctly solved all thirsty tasks.

The second was Merdan Hayidov, a teacher at specialized school No. 41 in Turkmenabat. His result is 73% correct answers." Not far behind him were Jeren Esenova (translator for the individual enterprise "Beyik Yupek Yoly") and Sapa Gurbanberdiyev from "Turkmen Logistics". Both shared the third place with a 70 per cent result.

Despite the emergence of the first winners, the appearance and name of a clear candidate for the title of absolute leader were still behind a veil of uncertainty.

...And the second round did not bring clarity to the tournament table, because of the four favorites of the first round, only one managed to repeat his success. The first place in the second round was confidently taken by Mamed Alikperov - an import manager of the Timar company. He joined the competition only from the second round, but managed to score more points than the others right away.

Merdan Hayidov also pleased us. Although he is not an entrepreneur, and even less so an exporter of manufactured goods, but a school teacher, nevertheless, he demonstrated remarkable knowledge in a speciality that is far from his professional activity. His knowledge and broad outlook allowed Merdan to repeat his success in the second round, taking second place. This result significantly strengthened Merdan's position in the contest for the Grand Prix.

The third place went to Maya Amansaryeva from “Turkmen Awto Merkezi” economic association. She, like Mamed Alikperov, had missed the initial round and that day for the first time entered the ring of intellectual battle.

Together with her, the third step of the symbolic podium was shared by the IT specialist of the individual enterprise “Turkmen Logistics”, whose name, according to the questionnaire, is Arslan, but he did not indicate his last name.

Apparently, it is so well known that there was no point in mentioning it (this is not entirely a successful joke).

The results showed that the competitive struggle was sharper in the second round. The fate of the prizes could be decided by one correct or, conversely, incorrect answer. The dominant group was trailed by a whole company of contenders, who were separated from Maya and Arslan, who took the third place, by only one point.

By the way, such a single point was constantly missing to enter the top three prize-winners, the oldest participant of the quiz - Batyr Berdiyev, who turned 63 in the fourth round of our contest. And the organizers marked this event in Batyr Hojaevich's life with an encouraging prize.

But all the same, the second round slightly highlighted the silhouettes of the possible leader in the race for the main prize, which was intended for the winner of all four rounds of the contest.

Total points were calculated on the basis that 3 points were awarded for first place in each round, 2 points for second and 1 point for third.

Thus, according to the results of two rounds, Merdan Hayidov took the first place with four points (2 second places), the second place in the overall standings was taken by two contenders for the Grand Prix - Guychgeldi Sytdykov and Mamed Alikperov (each of them has 3 points for the first places).

But the situation was precarious and could change at any moment. Any of the participants, even those who joined the game from the third round, could theoretically become the Grand Prix winner.

Therefore, everyone was eagerly awaiting the third round, as, under certain circumstances, it was supposed to bring sharpness to the competition between the contenders and clarity to the tournament table. And it took place on the 1st of July."

During 12 hours - from 10am till 22 at night - time was given for thinking over the questions. As a result, the third place was taken by Azamat Orayev, a teacher of secondary school No. 50 in Turkmenabat city.

The second place also went to Merdan Hayidov, a teacher of school №41 in Turkmenabat.

It should be noted that the stability of Merdan's game delighted literally everyone - he took second place in three consecutive rounds! I will not hesitate to note once again that Merdan Hayidov’s broad outlook allowed him to brilliantly cope with most of the tasks related to the sphere far from his professional activity.

And it is wonderful when school teachers possess multifaceted knowledge - their comprehensive education and awareness in various fields of knowledge will, in one way or another, be transferred to their students.

And the first place in the third round is again occupied by Mamed Alikperov. Finally, the fog of uncertainty cleared. Two clear contenders for the main prize appeared in the quiz. Each of them has 6 points. Merdan Hayidov - for three second places, and Mamed Alikperov - for two first places (we remind that he did not participate in the first round). And in the final round the fight for the main prize was to unfold mainly between them.

Theoretically, the two leaders could compete with other participants, but under a fantastic scenario, when the leaders would not be among the winners of the fourth round, and their closest competitors would manage to score the maximum number of points.

However, to be objective, we should note that this would be a miracle, the likes of which do not exist. Everyone was expecting that Merdan Hayidov and Mamed Alikperov would compete uncompromisingly for first place and both would score the highest number of points. But in the fourth round, something incredible happened - neither of them met our expectations...

The top step of the symbolic podium was occupied by three people at once! But the curiosity was that none of them had any claim to the Grand Prix! This is from the category “We couldn't get it ourselves, but we managed to tickle the nerves of others”.

Nedir Agabayev, the director of the company “Business Consultant”, although he took the first place, by the end of the whole game he had only 3 points.

Serdar Rahymov also achieved the same result, making him the second "troublemaker" among the top performers of the fourth round. He is from the city of Hazar and works in the system of structures of the foreign policy department.

Another winner of the fourth round is Maya Amansaryeva. But according to the results of the whole quiz she has only 4 points. And this is also too few to reach the Grand Prix. True, Maya missed a couple of rounds, but it can be a weak consolation for the deeply hidden self-esteem mechanism.

The second place in the final round was shared by those who scored 29 points each. These are two young men who have a lot in common. Both are called Azamat. They live in the same city Turkmenabat. Both work as school teachers. But their surnames are surprisingly different - Ochilov and Orayev.

We can add to the list of their common features: neither of them could compete with the main leaders in the struggle for the Grand Prix. Orayev has 3 points at the end of the whole competition (for third and second places), while Ochilov has 2 points for second place.

Also second place on the podium was taken with 29 points by Hemra Atayev - the only representative of the northern region of the country who was included in the list of winners of our quiz.

Another silver medallist was Gahryman Rahmanov, manager of "Degirmen topary" economic association.

And well-known to all of us Mamed Alikperov, who also managed to answer 29 questions, which allowed him to take the second place.

And finally, the last prize-winner of the final stage - Merdan Hayidov. He, unfortunately, fell below the 2nd place for the first time in all the games. But this does not mean that he played worse, as Merdan was even able to score more points than usual.

Thus, if in the first round he had 22 points, with which he took the second place, then, in the second and third rounds, to keep his position he needed to earn 25 and 27, respectively. And in the fourth round he managed to score 28 points, which is his personal record. But that was just enough to take only third place.

So he played even better than usual. It's just that his opponents played to unbelievably amazing effect!

The same fate as that of Merdan Hayidov befell Mamed Alikperov, who entered the intellectual marathon from the second stage. If 28 points were enough for Mamed in the second and third rounds to take the first place, then in the final stage his 29 points were enough to climb only to the second step of the podium.

Though, if Merdan Hayidov and Mamed Alikperov held steady, improving their game little by little, their rivals progressed right before their eyes.

And this - growth in the course of the competition - is one of the main achievements of our quiz!

So, let's summarize the final result. Merdan Hayidov scored 7 points for four rounds (three second places and one third).

And Mamed Alikperov took the first place twice and the second place once. In total he has 8 points.

As a result, the Grand Prix went to Mamed Alikperov, Import and Export Manager of "Timar" Company!

It remains to congratulate the winner of the main prize and the winners of the intermediate stages, who, in addition to gifts, were presented with relevant certificates, as well as to express gratitude to everyone who took part in the "Export Activities" quiz.

In conclusion - the last question: "What hearing competition is named after a guy and a girl?"

...Those who say that it is our "Victorina" (Victor and Inna), that will be the right answer!

Bekdurdy AMANSARYYEV