Universiade Torch lights up Hearts of People in Yekaterinburg

YEKATERINBURG – The Universiade Flame of the 27th World University Summer Games arrived in Yekaterinburg, the cultural, scientific and educational centre of the Urals Federal District and the informal capital of the Urals, on Sunday, May 19th. Forty torchbearers ran a distance of 7,600 kilometres to kindle the City Cauldron and ignite the hearts and spirits of local people.

At the press conference dedicated to the Universiade Torch’s arrival in Yekaterinburg, Universiade Village Mayor Farid Abdulganiev briefed the audience on Kazan’s readiness to host the Summer Universiade. “The preparations for the Universiade began at the very moment Kazan won the bid to stage the World University Summer Games. As of today, almost all sports venues where the test events have been held are ready,” said Farid Abdulganiev.

Head of the Department for Health Care, Sport and Formation of Healthy Lifestyle of the Republic of Tatarstan Cabinet Office Andrey Kondratyev extended his gratitude to the Sverdlovsk Region for its fantastic efforts in staging the Universiade Torch Relay-related events in Yekaterinburg. “We are becoming part of a great event – the Universiade in Russia. The world’s most talented athletes, sports federations, student organisations – they all will come to visit not just Kazan, they will come to visit Russia,” said Andrey Kondratyev. “And the image of our country depends on how well we will host our visitors in Russia.”

The Yekaterinburg leg of the Torch Relay kicked off in Ural Federal University (UrFU). FISU 1st Vice-President and Russian Student Sports Union (RSSU) President Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Sverdlovsk Region Leonid Rapoport, 1st Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Ruslan Kabirov, Head of the Department for Health Care, Sport and Formation of Healthy Lifestyle of the Republic of Tatarstan Cabinet Office Andrey Kondratyev, Universiade Village Mayor Farid Abdulganiev, UrFU Rector Viktor Koksharov, as well as Lyudmila Stolyarova, PR Director of MegaFon’s Ural Branch, were present at the ceremonial lighting of the first runner’s torch. 

Andrey Rozhkov

The Universiade Torch Relay in Yekaterinburg will have a length of 7,600 kilometres. 40 Torchbearers, among them best student of the region, athletes as well as representatives of the 2013 Summer Universiade’s partners, carried the Flame through the main streets of the city. The full coverage of the Torch Relay was streamed live online on the official website of Ural Federal University.

Egor Mekhontsev, the boxer, gold medallist at the London 2012 Olympic Games and teacher of Ural State Law Academy, had the honour of being the first to carry the Flame.

The Torch Relay arrived at the finish line in Lenin Square where the final Torchbearer, Ilya Khlybov, who is the three-time world sambo champion, ignited the City Cauldron. The lighting of the City Cauldron was attended by First Deputy Chairman of the Sverdlovsk Region Government Vladimir Vlasov, FISU 1st Vice-President and Russian Student Sports Union (RSSU) President Oleg Matytsin, 1st Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Ruslan Kabirov, Minister of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Sverdlovsk Region Leonid Rapoport, UrFU Rector Viktor Koksharov, Head of the Department for Health Care, Sport and Formation of Healthy Lifestyle of the Republic of Tatarstan Cabinet Office Andrey Kondratyev, Universiade Village Mayor Farid Abdulganiev, as well as Deputy Head of the Administration of the city of Yekaterinburg Mikhail Matveev. 

Oleg Matytsin, FISU 1st Vice-President

FISU 1st Vice-President Oleg Matytsin thanked Yekaterinburg for its hospitality. “We can see today that the Torch Relay is taking place in your city – the city of fine sports traditions. I’m positive that the attention that the city’s authorities attach to the development of university sports, support given by the region’s government, will ensure a progress of university sports’ development,” said Oleg Matytsin. 

After the Torch Relay came to an end, the Flame was handed for storage to Ural Federal University.

Next destination of the Universiade Flame is Kaliningrad.

(Source: Kazan 2013 Media Dept.)