2017 WU Bidding Update: Evaluation Committee arrives in Almaty

 Reception with the Mayor of Almaty, Akhmetzhan Esimov.
NUSF President Kairat Zakiryanov, Roger Roth, Leonz Eder, the Mayor of Almaty Akhmetzhan Esimov, Kairis Ulp, Milan Augustin (from right to left)

ALMATY – The FISU Evaluation Committee for the 2017 Winter Universiade composed of Mr. Leonz Eder, Mr.Roger Roth, Ms. Kairis Ulp, and Mr. Milan Augustin arrived in Almaty on October 23th for the inspection visit of the candidate city of the 2017 Winter Universiade.

The first meeting shortly after their arrival was with Mr. Akhmetzhan Essimov, Mayor of Almaty. The Ddeputy Mayor of Almaty Serik Seidumanov and President of Kazakh Students Sports Federation Kairat Zakiryanov also participated in this meeting. Mr. Essimov confirmed a strong interest of Almaty to host the Winter Universiade in 2017.

After the meeting in the Mayor’s office the Evaluation Committee visited 4 sports venues for 8 sports. The first destination was Biathlon and Cross-Country Ski Stadium in the Soldatskoe valley. Director of the complex Askar Orazalinov introduced all facilities of the stadium and answered questions. The stadium has 2,500 seats and  standing room for 3,600 spectators.

Kairis Ulp with a falcon at the Ski resort

Next venues visited by theFISUdelegates were the famous Medeu Alpine Ice Arena and the Shymbulak Alpine Ski Resort. The Director of Medeu made a special presentation about its history and current renovations. There were 125 world records made in the Medeu Ice Arena. During the visit of the Evaluation Committee thousands of Almaty residents and guests enjoyed ice skating on Medeu – on weekends the stadium is opened for citizens.

Shymbulak also was crowded by Almaty citizens while the Evaluation Committee members tried the newly built gondola way from Medeu to Shymbulak. The FISU delegates could see all facilities and were informed about the plans of future developments. After the visit the Evaluation Committee members had lunch with Kazakh National dishes and the famous local apples that are the subject of the Almaty-2017 logo.

For the general presentation the Evaluation Committee visited the International Ski Jumping Complex, which is based in the city. While the Evaluation Committee members inspected the facilities, Russian youth sports team were making training jumps. The general presentation was chaired by the General Director of the Bidding Committee Sultanbek Syzdykov and members of the Bidding Committee. After the presentation all members of the Evaluation Committee went to the airport for the flight to Astana for the meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov, Minister of Education and Sscience Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov and Minister of Tourism and Sports Talgat Ermegiyayev.

(Source: 2017 WU Almaty Bidding Committee)

 The Medeu Alpine Ice Arena, Speed Skating Stadium, foreseen for Bandy at the 2017 WU

The International Ski Jump Complex

Study onsite at Shymbulak Alpine Sport Resort