'I want to get in the ring': Messages reveal boxer's mindset before disappearance
Anna corresponded with her friend for four consecutive days
The parents of missing Rostov athlete Anna Tsomartova have discovered her final correspondence with a close friend. In voice and text messages, the boxer spent three days chatting with her friend, sharing plans and emotions. The two women stayed in touch right up until the start of the bout. After that, Anna«s brother replied to the friend — Anna herself never got back in touch.
Before her first appearance on the promenade, Anna had been training
We are publishing part of the conversation in which Anya shares her emotions before and during the competition.
Anna trained extensively in Kaspiysk ahead of her fight
Anna Tsomartova is a student at the Rostov Law Institute of the Russian Interior Ministry. On 10 February 2024, she arrived in Kaspiysk for the Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts Muay Thai Championship. After the competition, Tsomartova left the Ali Aliyev Sports Palace and went for a walk along the promenade, wandering onto the grounds of the FSB sanatorium. She spent 40 minutes there before vanishing without a trace. Her body was not found in the water. Her family believes she was kidnapped. A criminal case was opened but remained stalled in Dagestan for eight months. Anya«s family eventually managed to get the case transferred to Moscow. The case file now runs to 12 volumes. Her parents have offered a reward of 5 million rubles ($55,000) for her return. Anna Tsomartova has been placed on the international wanted list.
This was not Anna«s first defeat in a bout
«I»ll burn out soon if I don«t get in the ring»
Anya«s body was not found in the water. Relatives believe she was kidnapped
All audio and text messages are in the possession of the editorial office.
The friend was the last person Anna communicated with before and after the fight
Diana and Nikolai Tsomartov came across their daughter«s correspondence with her close friend on the daughter»s phone. The women discussed the upcoming trip to Dagestan, the competition, Anya«s studies and much more. The friend offered full support ahead of the fight and geared Anya up for victory. Over four days of messaging, Anya shares her emotions and makes plans for the future. She talks about the competition final and is delighted to be back in the ring after a long break.
— I don«t know why we didn»t notice this correspondence earlier. Anya«s phone was seized from us for a long time. While scrolling through it again, I came across Anechka»s chat with her best friend. They were in constant contact, — Diana, the missing athlete«s mother, told 161.RU and provided the voice messages and correspondence. — From 7 February, Anechka writes to her that she had dreamed of going to the competition. She says she hasn»t had a holiday in a long time and hasn«t been in the ring for more than two years. She»s happy to be going to Dagestan for this competition. They chat a lot like young women do, discussing the upcoming fight. After reading it all, I was again convinced that something happened to her, and that everyone who said Anya had taken her own life was wrong. She was in a state of euphoria. She was happy. She was making plans.
During the exchange with her friend, Anya shared that she was walking along the promenade, enjoying the smell of the sea and the fresh air. This was on 7 February.
— I«m going to go for a walk along the promenade now. We sat in the hall so long, I»m even tired. I«m loving what»s happening right now. The coach says our girls are well prepared. Can you imagine, even in winter the sea here is beautiful. The nature is just wonderful, — Anna writes to her friend.
It should be recalled that three days before her disappearance, Anna did indeed walk along the promenade and photograph the scenery. A person in a red jacket appeared in the shots. The same person later appeared in her other videos. Her parents speculated that it could have been a coincidence and the man was just one of the sanatorium«s guests, or that he might have seen something. In Anna»s correspondence with her friend, she says nothing about him and simply continues sharing her impressions of the sea and the Kaspiysk promenade.
After the walk, Anna continues discussing the past competition day with her friend.
— They deducted half a point for being late... I«m watching on TV: Stavropol is standing there, waiting. I»m thinking: «What»s going on? The fight is already underway and we«re still changing.» This is crazy. Well, anyway, I took three rounds confidently. Just ran out of steam at the end, — Anya shares her impressions of the opponents« performances. — I need to do the same tomorrow. And tomorrow I»m going to step on the gas, the gas! I can«t stand it anymore. I want it now! I don»t have enough hatred. I«ll burn out soon if I don»t get into this ring. You gave me such an idea — to have the old coach and the new coach walk me out. Damn, why didn«t I think of that? Great. I»ll have to ask. Man, that«ll be cool, right? Ah-h-h! Double motivation. Both will be yelling like: »Hit! Clinch, clinch!« That»s going to be powerful. I«m already trembling with excitement. I want to get in the ri-i-ing!!!»
«Anka, I»m praying for you«
Diana believes the investigation took this correspondence into account when conducting the psychological examination and assessing Anna«s condition. Over the four days, the young woman repeatedly tells her friend that she dreams of the ring and is tired of university life without trips away. All of Anna»s phone correspondence was attached to the examination of the athlete«s psycho-emotional state.
— Well, my opponent is interesting. Listen, send me her fights. They«re professionals — it»s even more interesting. I already want to get in the ring. It«s 50/50, but the fight will be interesting. And then we»ll see, — Anya writes to her friend. — Whatever happens, I«m still enjoying it, you know? All this training — it»s nothing. I«m just tired, of course, of waiting for the fight. I want to tear it up.
The friend supports her with the words: «An, it»s all good. It«ll be tough. She»s had breaks. Hasn«t competed in a long time. Well, the coach, you have good experience too.»
— You won«t lose. It»ll all be fine… She«s even mediocre in the clinch. She takes you into the clinch, she might land two or three knee strikes — and that»s it. She just throws, — the friend tells Anya. — She doesn«t work on speed; she»s not fast. She just, like, threw a one-two once. She«s like, you know, she works more on tactics. So you can go in normally, hard from here, say, once — and something else. I think Uncle Verdi will give you a pep talk with good support.
Tsomartova isn«t intimidated by this; on the contrary, it seems to spur her on. The athlete replies that it makes it even more interesting.
— I haven«t had one like this in my collection yet, — writes the missing boxer.
— Especially since she hasn«t boxed in a long time. She also wasn»t there last year. She didn«t go to such a proper tournament. After the North Caucasus Federal District event she went somewhere else — and that was it, and she hasn»t been seen since, — the friend continues gearing her up for victory. — So don«t even worry about it. Anka, I»m praying for you. And whoever I pray for — they all win.
The women discuss the fight of Anna«s younger brother Oleg, who lost to his opponent, and conclude that a lost fight is a valuable experience, not a loss. According to the athlete»s mother, her daughter understood she could lose and wouldn«t have despaired over it.
— The level of support is 100% every five seconds in their correspondence. For three or four days they discuss how Anya missed sport. The friend supports her to the maximum, and they even talk about the possibility of losing, — Diana Tsomartova said. — She was savouring everything that was happening: being by the sea, being away. She felt some fatigue, yes, but precisely from sitting in the hall for long periods and training.
On 10 February, the friends again discuss the upcoming fight and the competition in general. Tsomartova stays in touch with her friend until the moment Anya goes to the changing room after the fight to get changed.
— When you«re boxing, just finish her off, finish her. Right up to the ring, finish her, hit her right in the face, — the friend geared Anya up for victory.
Before the fight, Tsomartova calmly replies to her friend with her final two voice messages. In them, Anna assesses a fight of an acquaintance, after which Anya herself was due to enter the ring.
— Yes, it all started well, but then, in the second fight... Well, that«s it. I»ll probably go and start getting changed too, — Tsomartova writes to her friend at 13:17 — for the last time, two hours before her own bout.
Athletes go off to prepare before entering the ring and leave their phones behind, as the girl«s mother explained. After Anya»s fight, in which she conceded victory and took silver, the friend sends her another voice message, but Anya no longer replies.
— Anka, I just watched the fight. You«re still awesome, still the best. Don»t be upset. These things happen in life. It«s like this for now. Next time will be better, so don»t be upset. You«re still awesome. You»re a champ, — the friend wrote.
Getting no reply from Anya, the friend immediately asks if everything is okay, but the athlete never responds. Anya«s friend»s messages are answered that evening by her brother Oleg, who also competed in boxing at the event. The friend asks: «Oleg, is that you?» He replies: «Yes.» Oleg also says that Anya is nowhere to be found.
«She was in a wonderful mood»
According to Diana Tsomartova, listening to her daughter«s voice messages was a joy. She admits she missed her child»s voice terribly. The women exchanged jokes, made plans for Anya«s return to Rostov and joked about Anya»s weight, which she said she had «shed the extra kilos before the competition» to make her weight category.
— I listened to these voice messages for three days and understood that she wasn«t feeling bad. She was in a wonderful mood. Right up until the moment she went to the changing room before the fight, she was in a great state of mind. There are lots of jokes. They»re personal in nature, and I can«t tell you everything, but Anya was happy, — Anna»s mother reflects. — Up to 13:00 on 10 February everything was fine with her. That was two hours before the fight. Whether someone in the changing room said something to her, or something happened before or after the fight, I don«t know.
Anna«s mother also does not believe in the suicide theory. According to Diana, her daughter would now have already received her police officer»s ID.
— At the end of August this year, Anya would have been a full police lieutenant — they graduate as lieutenants from there (the Rostov Law Institute of the Russian Interior Ministry. — Ed. note). She should have been working as an investigator in a department by now, — the athlete«s mother said with regret.
Anna Tsomartova«s family believes her daughter did not end up on the cape from which she disappeared by chance. In August 2025, the results of the psychological examination conducted earlier became known. The results showed that the athlete could not have taken her own life. The experts reached this conclusion after studying the case and ruled out the suicide theory. No mental disorders were found in the young woman. They are confident that her personality traits could not have led to tragedy.
