2009 SU Update: Opening Ahead of Time

Serbia vs. Canada (2-1)

Even though the Belgrade Universiade is not yet official open (thus  will be the case tomorrow, Wednesday, July 1st), the first sports  events began today, most officially.  It was football players (men and women) who opened the ball at 10.30 this morning in order to enable the two tournaments to be completed before the end of the games, while accommodating the necessary recuperation time slots for the athletes: playing two 45 minute half times every other day in fact is not a restful rhythm.  16 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams thus will be competing against each other for 10 days at the 13 different stadiums prepared by the organisation committee.

Great Britain vs. Estonia (10-0)Although it is a bit strange for the athletes to begin competition before the opening ceremony takes place, the involvement of the players was complete beginning with the kick-off of the different matches. Without any second thoughts, the objective truly was to enter the competition and come away with a victory.  Under changing skies, with sunshine occasionally making its way through continual showers, the matches took place without mishap, with an average temperature of 28°C.

While certain matches ended with a close score, sometimes a very close score, such as the Ukraine/Morocco men’s match (0-0) or the Serbia/Canada women’s match (2-1), other results such as the Brazil/South Africa women’s match revealed a clear domination of one team over the other (7-1).  Note that the Serbia/Ghana men’s match did not take place since the Ghana team has not yet arrived at the Athletes’ Village.

After this first day of competition, tomorrow, Wednesday, July 1st, the day of the opening ceremonies, will be a recuperation day.  And then on Thursday, July 2nd the pool of matches continue.

For detailed results, refer to: //results.ub2009.org/results/index.html

Serbia vs. Canada