Nail Nurov: Winter Universiade is an Important Youth Sporting Forum

ALMATY – According to the Director of the 2017 Winter Universiade Organizing Directorate Nail Nurov, the construction progress of the venues for the 28^th Winter Universiade in Almaty does not cause any concern as he reported during his first meeting with media representatives in Hard Rock Café Almaty.

As of June, the construction works at each venue are 70-80 % complete, including the Ice Arena with a 12,000 capacity. The completion date is scheduled for August-September of this year.

“The venues which are at the final stage of their construction will not only be completed in time, but will also be finished ahead of schedule including both the Ice Arena with 3,000 seats and the Ice Palace with 12,000 seats. As far as the existing venues are concerned, they are already functioning today, being modernized and technically retrofitted. There are no reasons for concern. There are only some challenging technical tasks of installing the snowing system in ‘Alatau’ Cross country Skiing and Biathlon Stadium, as well as in ‘Shymbulak’ Ski Resort and ‘Sunkar’ International Ski Jumping Complex. However, all these issues will be solved in time,” Nail Nurov stressed.

The construction works in the Athletes’ Village are at an advanced stage. It will be a place which is set to be the centre of the Games where a huge part of cultural programmes will be organized, including one which will tell about the ancient and modern history of Kazakhstan.

According to Nail Nurov, 35 countries confirmed their participation so far. “The work is in full swing. The final number of participating countries will be known by the end of the year. Here we are counting on FISU and our National University Sports Federation headed by Kairat Zakiryanov. Our goal is not to achieve a lower result than in Erzurum, which had 52 participating countries,” the Head of the Directorate noted. He also mentioned that, technically and organizationally, Kazakhstan is ready to host 64 countries, 2,000 athletes, 3,000 volunteers and representatives of national delegations and about 30,000 tourists and spectators from different countries.

“The Universiade is one of the biggest events in the history of sport in Kazakhstan. One of my main challenges is to change the philosophy of the Universiade here in Kazakhstan. This project is self-sufficient and not a preparatory stage for the Olympic Games,” Nail Nurov stressed.

The Head of the Directorate also noted, that the “Universiade is a sporting product with its own inner filling. I prefer hosting the Winter Universiade as if it is the youth sporting festivity, a forum of student-athletes. Students are the progressive part of community in any country and they are the future of their country as well. Currently, the Universiade is the most striking sporting forum for youth. We can take this opportunity to tell the world about Kazakhstan through our young generation. Of course, not forgetting about the values of the games. However, we will make everything possible to make the Universiade interesting since an estimated 1 billion TV viewers are expected to watch the event. For me, as the Head of the Organizing Directorate, the most important is the evaluation of the event within the country,” Nail Nurov concluded.

(Source: Almaty 2017 OC)