MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Russian athletes won nine medals on the second day of competition at the BRICS Games being held in the South African city of Durban.

Russians won six gold medals in swimming, namely Roman Akimov (200m freestyle), Georgy Glazunov (100m breaststroke), Daria Klepikova (100m freestyle), Evgenia Chikunova (50m breaststroke), Vlada Yeggi (100m backstroke). The team also took gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay (Akimov, Anastasia Markova, Alexey Tkachev, Klepikova).

Swimmers Andrey Volkov (50m butterfly) and Markova (100m freestyle) won silver medals. Maria Golubeva, Alyona Koroleva, Vladislav Dobychkin and Gleb Stepakov won the bronze medal in the team badminton event. At the end of two competition days, Russia has 17 gold, four silver and two bronze medals.

The BRICS Games are being held from October 18 to 21. About 450 athletes from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are taking part in them. Russia is represented at the Games by 34 athletes in all six sports represented in the program: swimming, tennis, badminton, volleyball (beach volleyball), table tennis, and sports for people with locomotor disabilities (table tennis and wheelchair tennis).

The first BRICS Games were held in 2016 in India. In 2024, the competition will be hosted by Russia for the first time, the tournament will be held from June 12 to 23 in Kazan. On September 29, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on the formation of the Organizing Committee for the preparation and holding of the BRICS 2024 Games. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Russian Presidential Aide Igor Levitin were appointed co-chairmen of the committee.