2013 SU Update: Two years to go to Kazan 2013 University Games

 Two years to go to the day when Kazan will turn into the centre of attraction for thousands of athletes and sports fans around the world: on July 6, 2013 the capital of Tatarstan hosts the Opening Ceremony of the 27th World University Summer Games. The preparation progress which is held in more than 50 areas of activity, is impressive in its scope. The experts say that Kazan is already capable to host the Summer Universiade now

The sports venues construction is in full swing, as well as modernisation of the city’s transportation infrastructure. There are 27 totaly new sports venues put into operation as of today. All of them were constructed specially for the 2013 Summer Universiade. Two other key sports venues, i.e. Gymnastics Centre and Aquatics Palace, are expected to be inaugurated in 2011 with the third cluster of the Universiade Village being commissioned as well. The opening of the 45,000-seat stadium which is to become the main venue for the Opening/Closing Ceremonies of the Games, is scheduled for 2012.

At present there are more than 12.5 thousand people doing sports at the sports facilities of the Kazan Universiade. 24 sports venues offer their services to children’s and youth sports schools. The total number of school educatees reaches 5.5 thousand people.

Opened in August 2010 and with no parallel in the world, the Universiade Village accommodates over 3,000 students from 36 countries of the world.

In accordance with the FISU regulations, the host city is obliged to hold test events in each sport included in the Universiade programme. Kazan already hosted large-scale events like the 4th European Table Tennis Championship, 7th European Beach Volleyball Championship, 2011 European Weightlifting Championships, FIDE Candidates Matches. Both athletes involved in the competitions and spectators gave a high appraisal to the events and wished to come and visit Kazan soon.

A close and fruitful cooperation established between FISU and Kazan 2013 Organising Committee resulted in signing the Memorandum on creation of the FISU International Education Centre on July 30, 2010. The centre will be based on the Volga Region State Academy of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism, while the academy itself will turn into a training centre for Russian athletes, coaches, sports managers and other sports specialists. The freehold of eight high-tech sports venues and Cluster C of the Universiade Village will be tranferred to the academy as well.

Transportation infrastructure modernisation is one of the major parts of the preparations for the 2013 Games. A large-scale reconstruction and construction of roads and traffic intersections are designed to reduce volume of traffic.

The Kazan International Airport under reconstruction will be able to increase the quality of air flight service and offer world-standard air services to both Russian and foreign airlines. An intermodular transportation from a railway station to the Kazan International Airport will be organised as well. The Kazan underground system will also be upgraded; five more metro stations will be put into operation to connect main venues of the Universiade.

The Cultural Universiade is a top priority project in the preparations for the 2013 Summer Universiade. Launched in 2011, it will culminate in the Opening/Closing Ceremonies of the 2013 Games which are to be held in the new football stadium. Another major event implemented within the framework of the Cultural Universiade is the FISU Flag Transfer Ceremony which is kick off at the Closing Ceremony of the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen.

As part of the implementation plan Concepts of the Preparations and Delivery of Major Cultural and Image-building Programme and Key Official Ceremonies of 27th World University Summer Games in Kazan for the Period of 2010-2013, the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate is releasing the following projects:

The UNI-elite/UNI-reserve youth talent selection project (both projects launched in December 2010). 70 performers and bands were short listed for the UNI-elite/UNI-reserve talent pool.Mercy Charity Project (New Year’s performance Miracle for Masha, Spring Marathon 2013)Annual Youth Project Faces of the Universiade and many others.

The Kazan 2013 volunteer movement is rapidly growing, the number of Universiade volunteers reaching 2,000 people at present. Volunteers are actively involved in implementation of sports and cultural events of the Republic of Tatarstan. For the period of 2010-2011 Kazan 2013 volunteers assisted in delivering of over a hundred of sporting events. A profound importance is attached to language training of volunteers. 50 volunteers completed the English 4U language project. Apart from that, there were specialised internships organised for Kazan 2013 volunteer teams, e.g. 25th World University Summer Games in 2009 (Serbia), 1st Youth Olympic Games in 2010 (Singapore), Winter Universiade in 2011 (Turkey), 7th Winter Asian Games (Kazakhstan), FIS Alpine European Cup (Sochi). In August Kazan 2013 volunteers are to have an internship at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen.

The marketing and sponsorship programmes play a key role in a successful delivery of the Games. On March 26, 2010 the Kazan 2013 OC signed a partnership agreement with major Russian mobile operator MegaFon that gained the status of General Communications Partner and Official Mobile Operator of the 27th World University Summer Games in Kazan. On December 20, 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers signed an engagement agreement to become a partner of the 27th World University Summer Games in Kazan.

Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate