Amazonas set to host the 3rd International University Beach Games

Six countries will compete starting next week on the beaches of Ponta Negra

MANAUS – Final preparations are underway in the capital city of Amazonas as the place prepares to host the third edition of the International University Beach Games from the 5-10 December.

The international edition of the beach games takes place right after the Brazilian University Beach Games, the Brazilian University Sports Confederation’s (CBDU) final event of 2017. 

Student athletes from Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic will compete in beach volleyball, beach handball and beach soccer at the International Beach Games.

For the third year in a row, FISU America has endorsed the competition. “The Beach Games International is a CBDU event that has the seal of FISU America,” Continental President Alim Maluf Neto said. “This is a pioneering competition that promotes the development of beach sports in the university environment. Some countries in the Americas, because of this event, already hold their national qualifying matches for the international event.”

The upcoming International University Beach Games in Manaus follows two successful previous editions as Aracaju, capital of Sergipe, hosted the inaugural event and Maceió, capital of Alagoas, hosted in 2016.

At the first edition, CBDU President Luciano Cabral noted the event’s importance of the event to the world university sports scene. “We are now writing a new chapter in the history of university sports with the International University Beach Games, the only beach competition ever held for university students,” the CBDU President said. “Now we have the opportunity to consolidate this as a great worldwide sporting event, created, developed and initially organized in Brazil.”

The 3rd International University Beach Games comes as a collaborative work between the Brazilian University Sports Confederation (CBDU), FISU America and the Amazonian University Sports Federation (FAUD), along with official endorsement from FISU.

This year’s setting of the event on beaches away from the ocean shows the possibility and versatility of the beach games concept.

“We believe that, because it is in Manaus, on a river beach, this arouses the curiosity of the countries to know the region,” Mr. Cabral said. “The whole world has a great interest in the Amazon, and this was a great positive factor to also attract the attention of the participants.”

Beach soccer will be a hotly contest competition in the Amazonas capital city