2013 SU Update: Kazan marked 1,000 days left to the Start of the 27th SU

KAZAN – It’s not a final straight yet, but it’s a significant milestone date that marks the epoch-making event that is to take place in Kazan in June of 2013.

Sunday, October 17th, Millenium Square, central square near the Kazan Kremlin, hosted a flash mob event organised by the 2013 Universiade volunteers. Over 300 young people used their bodies to create a living inscription KAZAN 2013 – 1000. Thus, they expressed their readiness to render support in preparation and staging of the Games. The flash mob marked once again the significance of the forthcoming sporting event.

1,000 days to the 2013 Universiade, and Kazan may boast 23 new sports complexes, swimming pools and stadiums, that were built in less than three years. The city actively promotes ideas and values of student sports and healthy lifestyle. More and more people engage into sports and all the facilities are provided for that. But the city is not just living in anticipation of the Universiade. The Universiade is not an end in itself, it’s a stage of improvement in the quality life of Kazan citizens. Modernisation of sports infrastructure within the framework of Kazan’s preparation for the 2013 World Summer Student Games provides opportunities for young people to get involved into sports and for the city to bid for hosting other top-level international events. Thus, the 45,000-seat stadium under construction is included in Russia’s 2018/22 FIFA World Cup Bid Book.

Besides, within the next two years Kazan is to host international events in 26 sports of the Universiade programme. At present Tatarstan discusses staging the Youth Olympic Games in Kazan.

Right after the 2013 Universiade, Russia is to host the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. These two large-scale events are inseparably linked with each other. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin remarked, Kazan would serve as a testing ground for Sochi, as the capital of Tatarstan would test the system for coordinating various agencies and check the effectiveness of the mechanisms that had been developed.

Chairman of the Council of Federation Commission for Physical Culture, Sport and Olympic Movement Development Vyacheslav Fetisov stated: «I’m confident that the 2013 Kazan Universiade will become the best in the history of the Universiades.»

(Source:Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Committee)