UFA – Early in the morning on September 5th, the ‘Universiade in Your City!’-train with the Kazan 2013 delegates on board arrived in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, which is the next destination on the route of the FISU Flag Relay.
At the railway station inUfa, the Tatarstan delegation received a warm welcome extended by Ruslan Bikimbetov, Deputy Minister of Youth Policy and Sports of the Republic of Bashkiria, and youth of Tatarstan. The guests were presented a dance that combined national traditions of Bashkir, Tatar and Russian peoples.
«We are happy to be here, in Bashkiria, the closest region to Tatarstan. Our peoples are tied with an inseparable friendship and brotherhood which form the basis for a fruitful cooperation between the regions. Today, our friendship and partnership gain another dimension – from now on we are to prepare the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan together», said Larisa Sulima, Advisor to the Director General and Chief of Staff of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate, in the welcome speech to her colleagues from Bashkiria.
In return, Deputy Minister Ruslan Bikimbetov stated: «We are proud of the fact thatUfawas chosen as one of the cities to host the FISU Flag Relay. We wish the Russian national team victories at the World University Summer Games inKazanand win a triumph in all sports.»
After the solemn speeches, Timur Suleimanov, President of the Tatarstan Student League, and Alsu Valeeva, the leader of the Creative Youth Academy of Tatarstan, presented a ‘hundredweight of salt’, a symbolical gift that represents overcoming obstacles, and chak-chak, a traditional Tatar dessert, to young activists of Bashkiria.
The FISU Flag Relay-related festivities proceeded in the Bashkir State University which hosted the meeting of students of Bashkiria and Tatarstan, as well as signing a cooperation agreement between the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate and Bashkir State University. Later on, Salavat Yulaev Square became a venue for the ‘Greeting Card 2013’ and ‘We Vote for PEACE!’ events, and in the evening a gig headlined by the rock bands Murakami (Kazan) and Krilya (Ufa) and delivered by creative bands of Tatarstan and Bashkiria evolved inUfa’s Dynamo Stadium.
It stands to mention that Ufa is the third city on the route of the FISU Flag Relay. Earlier, the flag visited such cities as Izhevsk and Perm.
(Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate)
Mascot Uni, the Snow Leopard
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