2015 WU: Heads of Delegation Meeting in Granada – Day 1

From Left to right: Ignacio Valenzuela, Marketing Director, Ignacio Pipo, CEO, Kairis Ulp, chair of the Universiade Supervision Committee, Leonz Eder, FISU Vice-President and Milan Augustin, Winter Universiade Director

GRANADA – The first day of the Heads of Delegation (HOD) meeting was held on Tuesday 23 September at Hotel Nazaries in the center of the Andalusian city of Granada. Granada will host the 27th Winter Universiade from 4 to 14 February, 2015.

The city of Granada is in the final stretch towards the Universiade and only 131 days away from the Opening Ceremony, welcoming the meeting of the Heads of Delegation.

An important step in the process of the preparation for the games, the HOD meeting is also the Organising Committee’s final opportunity to test its teams, volunteers, attachés and transport. During the three-day meeting the Organizing Committee will explain to the delegates from the 20 countries present, the project for the 27th Winter Universiade and its sports venues. The HOD session will conclude with the team draw for the ice hockey and curling tournaments, both for men and women.

 So far, the delegates had the opportunity all morning to listen to the presentations of the Organising Committee. Ignacio Pipo, CEO of the Granada Universiade Organizing Committee personally welcomed the delegates highlighting the fact that the city of Granada and the whole region are very excited to host the FISU games during those 10 days in February. After briefly presenting the Organising Committee and its structure, he gave the floor to the OC staff so that they could address each in turn the presentation on their area of expertise.

On behalf of FISU, Kairis Ulp, Chair of the Committee for Supervision of the Winter Universiade, reminded the OC of the importance of this inspection for the Chefs de Mission. Mrs. Ulp therefore urged the delegates to accurately record all questions that might arise during the visits to allow the OC to respond and explain during Thursday’s Q&A session.

This afternoon, the delegates travelled to the Sierra Nevada mountain range and its surroundings that will host the alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding competitions.

Before each visit a very specific explanatory document was given to each delegate to enable a better understanding during the inspection itself.

Tomorrow the schedule will be dense with a tour dedicated to the ice venues, an inspection of the convention center that will host the MPC and IBC and a visit to the headquarters of the Organising Committee.

Yvan Dufour, Editor in Chief