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Tank biathlon kicks off at Alabino Range in Moscow Region

The competition started with a race of the first four crews from Uganda, Tajikistan, Angola and Laos

ALABINO RANGE, July 29. /TASS/. The Tank Biathlon international competition has kicked off at the Alabino Range, Moscow Region, on Saturday, as part of the 2017 International Army Games. The competition started with a race of the first four crews from Uganda, Tajikistan, Angola and Laos, the Games’ organizing committee reported.

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"Teams from Laos and Uganda are taking part in the Tank Biathlon for the first time," the organizing committee said, noting that all these crews were using Russian battle tanks T-72B3.

This day’s program will end with a race of crews from Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Mongolia and China. The crews from the first three countries will operate Russian tanks, whereas the Chinese crew will operate its Type-96B tank.

These races are part of the Individual Race stage in which 55 crews from 19 countries will take part: Russia, Azerbaijan, Angola, Armenia, Belarus, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Kuwait, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Serbia, Tajikistan and Uganda. The general rating will be formed on the basis of the Individual Race results. The first three crews will become the prizewinners in the Best Crew nomination. The sum of the three results shown by these crews from each country will determine 12 teams that will proceed to the next stage of the completion, the Relay Race.

The semi-final races will take place on August 8-10. The four best teams will be chosen by the results of the semi-finals to compete in the final that will be held on the Games’ closing day, August 12.

The first Russian crew will enter the struggle for the Games’ trophies on July 30. Crews from Serbia and Kyrgyzstan will take part in the race together with the Russian crewmen, the Games’ organizing committee reported.

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