KAZAN – Yesterday, September 4th, the opening ceremony of the 4th World University Shooting Sport Championship took place in Kazan, Russia.
Attending the ceremony were Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan and 4th WUC Sport Shooting Coordinator Asgat Safarov, Tatarstan’s Minister of Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism Rafis Burganov, FISU Assessor and Chair of the FISU International Press Committee Verena Burk, FISU 1st Vice-President and Russian Student Sports Union President Oleg Matytsin, Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Vladimir Leonov and London 2012 Olympic shooting medallist Vasily Mosin.
Asgat Safarov extended the warmest welcome to the WUC Sport Shooting participants on behalf of citizens of the Republic of Tatarstan. “Tatarstan is one of Russia’s rapidly growing regions in the sphere of sports. Sport shooting has been developed for over 50 years in the republic. We see staging of the championship on our soil as recognition of Tatarstan’s merits in this sport,” said Asgat Safarov and wished the athletes good luck.
F.r.t.l.: Vladimer Leonov, Verena Burk & Oleg Matytsin
Verena Burk thanked the organisers of the championship, athletes and their coaches for making this high-profile sporting event a reality. “I was confident that the championship will be staged at the highest possible level and I see the proof with my own eyes here,” she said.
The 4th World University Sport Shooting Championship will be held from September 4th to 9th at two different sports venues: Shooting Range Complex in the Mirny Township and Sviyaga Shotgun Range. 278 shooters from 30 countries will participate in the competitions. The list of participating nations includes Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Mongolia, Moldova, Iran, Poland, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Singapore, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, South Africa, Cyprus, Brazil, Austria, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Men and women will compete in 33 medal events: trap, skeet and double trap, and also air rifle, air pistol, standard pistol at distances of 10, 25 and 50 metres.
There will be 64 umpires (15 international and 49 Russian ones) for the Rifle and Pistol events and 61 umpires (7 international and 54 Russian ones) for the Trap and Skeet events. Special priority is given to the WUC-time transportation provision. The majority of athletes arrive for the championship via Moscow’s transportation hubs, i.e. its airports. In this connection the airport passenger terminals in the Russian capital will be equipped with wayfinding beacons that comply with the Look of the Games. This special signage will facilitate ease of navigation for the athletes heading to customs control, baggage screening and check-in desks to board their Moscow-Kazan flights.
For reference: the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate concluded cooperation agreements with 47 higher education institutions across Russia, including three universities of Moscow which have become regional volunteer training centres. The process is fully tested ahead of the 2013 Summer Universiade to ensure that volunteers of Moscow will give a great welcome and goodbye to athletes and members of official delegations arriving for the 2012 FISU WUCs and assist all passengers on their journey. 69 volunteers are used in this functional area for the period of the championships. A total of 1,170 volunteers lend a helping hand to ensure that the test events run smoothly and without fail.
(Source: Kazan 2013 Media Dept.)
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