FISU Delegates impressed with Krasnoyarsk Venues and Citizens’ Support

KRASNOYARSK – Today the FISU Evaluation Committee represented by the FISU President Claude–Louis Gallien and Secretary-General/CEO Eric Saintrond continued the visit of sports facilities and hospitality infrastructures of Krasnoyarsk, the bidding city for the 2019 Winter Universiade. Among others they have visited the ice arena “Sokol”. The delegation was impressed by the high level equipment and design of the arena as well as by its convenience for the athletes.

After inspecting the facility, the delegates together with the President of Russian Students Sports Union Oleg Matytsin; Deputy Minister of Sports of Russian Federation Natalia Parshikova and Deputy Governor of the Krasnoyarsk region Ekaterina Peshkova, assisted the press conference and answered some questions of Krasnoyarsk reporters. FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien said he was happy to work with Russia again, given the success of the 27^th Summer Universiade in Kazan. Answering journalists’ questions, he underlined he was positively impressed about the visible support of the Krasnoyarsk citizens and expressed his positive opinion about the development of ice sports in Krasnoyarsk.

Deputy Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Mrs. Parshikova said that despite the lack of competitors for the 2019 Winter Universiade, it will not be as easy for Krasnoyarsk to win the hosting rights. “Nevertheless, the chances of the city are high, mainly because of the interest in this project of regional and city authorities, but also due to the interest of the federal government. The Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a governmental guarantee of support for Krasnoyarsk, and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his personal support of the biding campaign “Universiade 2019” when he met with the FISU Executive Committee members during the Summer Universiade in Kazan”, said Deputy Minister of Sports of Russian Federation.

The first Vice-President of FISU and the president of the Russian Student Sports Union Oleg Matytsin called the Summer Universiade in Kazan the revival of university sports in Russia, and the Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk would be the great continuation of the development of the Russian University Sports Movement.  

(Source: Natalya Kosterna, Executive Assistant)