See you in Almaty!

GRANADA – The 27th Winter Universiade FISU ended this evening with the men’s ice hockey final. Outstanding displays and a rather unusual game since it put together the two nations that will welcome our Winter Games in 2017 and 2019 respectively, i.e., Kazakhstan (Almaty 2017) and Russia (Krasnoyarsk 2019). After a genuine final thriller, Russia had the upper hand of this golden game beating their opponents 3-1 in front of full house with 5,000 spectators.
Traditionally after the ice hockey medal ceremony, the Closing Ceremony of the Universiade took place.

In his speech, FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien first of all thanked José Torres Hurtado, Mayor of Granada and President of the Organizing Committee; Mr. Sebastian Perez Ortiz, Chairman of the Board Province of Granada; Mr. Francisco Gonzalez Lodeiro, the Rector of the University of Granada; Sandra Garcia Martin, the delegate of the Government of the Region of Andalusia; Antonio Granados, Councillor for Sports of the City of Granada and finally Ignacio Pipo, CEO of Granada in 2015 Universiade.

The FISU President welcomed the success of the 27th Winter Universiade, which brought together 2,400 participants and was the demonstration that such an event could be organized on two sites in two different countries. In total, 540 universities were represented at the Universiade that will leave an indelible memory to all participants, athletes, judges, referees, volunteers and officials.

Once the Granada Universiade was officially closed, the mayor of Granada handed the FISU flag back to President Gallien who passed it to the delegates of the city of Almaty led by the Mayor Akhmetzhan Yessimov and the Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan Aslan Sarinzhipov.
Then it was time for the cultural programme harmoniously combining elements of Spanish and Kazakhstan folklore.

See you in two years, from 29 January to 8 February, 2017 to celebrate the 28^th Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Text: Yvan Dufour, Editor-in-Chief – Photos and Ren Yuan