FISU President plays Bandy in Moscow to celebrate Students Day in Russia

MOSCOW – FISU President Oleg Matytsin joined students in Moscow on 25 January to celebrate the national Students Day in Russia, and competed in a bandy match on the Red Square as part of the festivities.

Matytsin was installed as FISU President in November 2015 following four years as FISU 1st Vice President and a decade as the President of the Russian Students Sport Union (RSSU).

Matytsin was playing bandy – a game played on ice in which players aim to shoot a ball into a goal using sticks – for a team of university rectors against members of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, who were captained by the Minister of Education and Science, Dmitry Livanov. The team of university rectors won the exhibition match 4-1, with Matytsin scoring a goal.

FISU President Matytsin (left, in blue uniform) in action

After the match, which was contested in temperatures of -12°C, Matytsin said: “It is a great privilege for me to be able to celebrate Russia’s Students Day by playing sport at an event which so many students participate in themselves. FISU exists to serve all students who want to play sports all over the world and it is important to remember that they do this in between their studies. Events like this help to remind everyone that many student-athletes are pursuing excellence in mind and body. I believe this to be the most advanced approach to sport that civilization has ever known and it is well worth celebrating.”

Matytsin is overseeing the implementation of a new direction at FISU which is based around three strategic pillars. The first is to align the federation more closely with the Olympic Movement, and particularly with Olympic Agenda 2020, the second is to enhance FISU’s administration through, among other policies, encouraging a better balance of continental representation, and the third is to invest in communications to ensure effective engagement with the Olympic Movement and the students of the world.

The team of university rectors (in blue) beat the team representing the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation (in red) 4-1

Establishing these strategic pillars is a priority for FISU in 2016 alongside staging FISU’s 34 World University Championships and the overseeing of construction of the organisation’s new headquarters in Lausanne, due for completion in 2017.

Matytsin added: “2016 is set to be a huge year for FISU and for myself. It’s my first full year of a four-year mandate as President and I am determined to start showing the results of my administration as soon as possible. But more importantly we want students to start feeling the difference about FISU’s new direction as well.”

Russia’s Students Day – also known as Tatiana Day – was celebrated by activities on ice rinks across Russia with Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets amongst those present on the Red Square to congratulate students on their hard work over the past year.

FISU Media