2014 WUC Handball: Update

GUIMARÃES – Recently, the Organizing Committee of 2014 World University Handball Championship (WUCH) made an important step forward in the preparation of this big event with the presentation of the event and its brand image, as well as the launch of the official website.

With only nine months to the opening ceremony of 2014 World University Handball Championship that will be held in the Portuguese city of Guimarães, from 3 to 10 August, and in the end of the inspection visit of the FISU Technical Delegate for Handball, Frantisek Taborsky and the FISU WUC Department Executive Assistant, Julien Buhajezuk, the local Organizing Committee prepared a session that was attended by the Vice-President of Guimarães City Hall, Amadeu Portilha, the Vice-President of the Handball Federation of Portugal, Augusto Silva, the Vice-President of the Portuguese University Sports Federation (FADU), the President of the OC and President of University of Minho Students Union, Carlos Videira and the Secretary-General of the OC and Director of the UMinho Sports Department, Fernando Parente, among others, to present this event.

This will be the 22^nd edition of the World University Handball Championship, with the expectation of a ‘huge event’, Carlos Videira said, which will have more than 600 participants, and there will be expected 16 men’s teams and 12 to 16 women’s teams. The event will also have the support of over 200 volunteers and the Opening Ceremony is scheduled for 3 August at the Praça de S. Tiago, in Guimarães.

The Chairman of Organising Committee, Carlos Videira said that sport is a winning bet for the Students’ Union and for University of Minho, where each organization is synonymous of success. “There has been a very great symbiosis between the Students Union and UMinho Sports Department with the results that all can see.” Regarding Handball, he states that “the great success this sport has and its tradition in Minho were an important factor to this bid and we pretend to organize the best ever WUC Handball.”

Guimarães City Hall will be one of the major partners of the event, referring Amadeu Portilha that “Guimarães receives this event with open arms.” According to him, Guimarães had the audacity to provide the city with sports facilities, so it is natural to receive this kind of events.

FISU’s Handball Technical Delegate, Frantisek Taborsky, attended this presentation, and referred the long history of international organizations of these institutions (FADU, UMinho and UMinho Students Union) and stated that “Portugal has been an excellent organizer and this was taken into consideration for the attribution of this World University Championship.” During this visit, he confessed that he liked what he saw and that the event is being prepared with excellence.

(Source: FADU)