FISU President joins Krasnoyarsk 2019 leaders at Winter Universiade preview

FISU President Oleg Matytsin (left) shares the podium at the TASS Conference focused on the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade with Olga Golodets (right), the Russian Deputy Prime Minister and chair of the local organising committee

This morning in Moscow, a press conference to preview the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade saw FISU President Oleg Matytsin join Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Chair of the Organising Committee, Olga Golodets, Russian Student Sports Union President, Sergey Seyranov, Director General of the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Directorate, Maxim Urazov, and Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Ambassador of WU2019, Ilya Averbukh.

Looking ahead the Opening Ceremony, President Matytsin confirmed that the presidents of a number of International Sports Federations will be in attendance, including International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) President René Fasel. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will provide a video greeting for participants. “It speaks again for the fact that Russia sets such high standards in the organisation of international projects that presidents of global sports federations are enthusiastic to participate,” the FISU president said.

With the Universiade now just weeks away, President Matytsin remarked: “I expect we will see Olympians from the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games giving great athletic performances, alongside rising stars showing that they too deserve a place at the very highest levels of sport. But even more importantly, I believe the 2,000 or so participants we are expecting will enjoy experiences that will shape them for a lifetime, going home with great memories of each other, of Krasnoyarsk and of Russia.”

President Matytsin also took the opportunity to look further ahead, given the possibility of Russia again hosting the Summer Universiade: “I am very pleased that we have received a formal notice of Yekaterinburg’s intention to bid to host the 2023 Summer Universiade. The FISU Executive Committee will meet in Krasnoyarsk and we will be happy to consider this wonderful option.”

 FISU President Oleg Matytsin was joined Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Chair of the Organising Committee, Olga Golodets, RSSU President, Sergey Seyranov, Krasnoyarsk 2019 Director General Maxim Urazov, and event ambassador, Ilya Averbukh.

And while the Universiade Flame continues to draw closer to Krasnoyarsk on its 29-stop journey across four countries, President Matytsin urged his counterparts from the Organising Committee to maintain the pace of their preparations, saying: “To make sure that the Winter Universiade closes a month from now as a success will take dedication and long hours of work from thousands of people, often in the cold. So I would like to take this occasion to thank everyone working on the project in advance: from the highest levels at the ministry of sport, whose support has opened the doors of Russia, to the world’s sportsmen, to the region and the city governments, to the national sports federations making the competitions possible and to the organising committee bringing everything together.”

The Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade begins on 2 March 2019, featuring 11 sports over 11 days of action.