2013 SU Update: Vladimir Leonov meets with Russian Regions’ Leading Media Representatives

KAZAN – As part of the media tour launched by the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate, Director General of the Executive Directorate for the 27th Summer Universiade Vladimir Leonov and head of the Volunteer Recruitment Office Tatyana Nikulina met with leading media representatives ofKrasnoyarsk,Saint Petersburg,Sochi and Ekaterinburg.

Vladimir Leonov presented a report on the preparation progress of the 2013 Summer Universiade inKazan, especially elaborating on the construction program of sports facilities and the road transportation network. «Thanks to the right to host the 2013 Summer Universiade,Kazanis undergoing 15-20-year development period in 3-4 years. The city has fully changed, soon we are going to have an international airport with a higher passenger throughput, a high-speed rail service and railway network connecting the airport and downtown.Kazancitizens’ attitude to life has changed as well, now most citizens are getting enthusiastically involved in playing sports and they get healthier», Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Vladimir Leonov told the media.

When Krasnoyark’s journalists asked about the real reason why Kazan had been awarded the right to host the 2013 Summer Universiade, Vladimir Leonov said:«The bidding campaign is a huge and very difficult process that requires a professional approach and achievement drive. Either fortunately or unfortunately, we succeeded to win the right to host the Universiade only at the second attempt, but we successfully passed two other bidding campaigns, 2018 FIFAWorld Cup (Kazan is among the cities to host some matches of the forthcoming football championship) and the 2015 FINA World Aquatics Championships. In this regard, the Universiade is valuable for us both in terms of the possibilities it has opened up forKazanand the whole ofRussiaand the grand legacy that it leaves after the Games end.»

Another question the media representatives were especially interested in was the budget of the 2013 Kazan University Games. Vladimir Leonov answered that the Universiade budget was made up of subsidies from federal, regional, municipal accounts, as well as from extra-budgetary resources, such as sponsors and partners. «Nearly 40% of the entire Universiade budget comes from extra-budgetary investments. Most venues erected on the threshold of the Games, among them the international airport, Ak Bars Wrestling Palace, etc, vividly demonstrate the efficiency of the public-private partnership. We are totally grateful to the general partners of our project – MegaFon and Ak Bars Bank that not simply invest their money in the preparations and staging of the Universiade, but also develop telecommunication and banking infrastructures in Tatarstan», Vladimir Leonov stated.

Head of the Volunteer Recruitment Office and Acting Director of the Volunteer Department of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Tatyana Nikulina introduced the journalists to the Kazan 2013 volunteer selection program. We remind you that to make the 2013 Summer Universiade happen, the organizers plan to recruit 20,000 volunteers from Kazan, cities and regions of Tatarstan, neighboring federal regions of Russia and a few foreign countries. For this purpose, the online registration for the Kazan 2013 volunteer selection program was launched on September 20th. The application form is available on . According to Tatyana Nikulina, so far over 3,000 people from 27 countries expressed their readiness to become Kazan 2013 volunteers. «The oldest candidate to become a Kazan 2013 volunteer is to turn 70 soon. It’s nice and important that volunteers in their silver years join the Kazan 2013 volunteer movement», said Tatyana Nikulina.

In return, the media representatives also expressed their admiration forKazanand scales of the preparations for the Universiade and hope that some day the same positive changes would happen in their cities as well. Let us remind you that Sochi is getting ready to stage the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Krasnoyarsk intends to bid to host the 2019 Winter Universiade, Saint Petersburg is in the midst of completing a new football stadium for Zenit FC, and Ekaterinburg, the capital of the Ural Federal District, is one of the most advanced regions in terms of university sports development in Russia.

The Russian regions’ leading media representatives also inspected a number of  Universiade venues, including the Universiade Village which is seen as the most modern student campus in Russia, and attended the ‘Conference On Enhancing the Role of Physical Culture and Sports in Personality Development of Students’. Later on, the journalists enjoyed the play ‘Vertical Road’ which was presented as part of the TERRITORIЯ International Festival running these days in Kazan under the aegis of the Cultural Universiade.

(Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate)