2013 SU Update: Chinese Experience taken into account to prepare Kazan Games

KAZAN – The experience of the Shenzhen Universiade will be taken into account while preparing for the 27th Summer Universiade in Kazan. This was announced earlier in an interview in the capital of Tatarstan by FISU 1st Vice-President and President of the Russian Student Sports Union Oleg Matytsin at the end of the first FISU Debriefing in the Universiade history ‘Universiade: from Shenzhen to Kazan’. Within a framework of the debriefing, the Shenzhen 2011 Organizing Committee shared its experience with representatives of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate.

“We are now witnessing a historical event. The initiative of the debriefing that was born in Kazan was supported by the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Ministry of Sports with an active participation of FISU. Our colleagues from China accepted our invitation and came to share their experience. That was the first event in the history of the world university sports movement, when only the organizing committees of the past and upcoming Games met”, said Oleg Matytsin. “The meeting proved to be very useful. The experience of the Games in China is still fresh. We have analyzed various areas of activities of the organizing committee. Of course we will pay attention to the experience of our colleagues from China. Especially because the Universiade in Shenzhen was really successful, this was mentioned by international federations as well as participating countries.”

“There certainly were some difficulties while preparing for the Games in China”, admitted the 1st Vice-President of FISU. “However, it would be difficult to assume that management of the competition in 24 sports can go flawless. And still there were no serious problems. During the first days there were difficulties in accreditation, reception and transportaion of big delegations. They should be taken into account during the preparations for the Games in Kazan because they include competitions in 27 sports comparing to24 in China. It means that all services will be put under even more pressure.”

According to Oleg Matytsin, the Kazan 2013 Organizing Committee is already using the experience of China in terms of language barrier and has organized a language tuition for volunteers of the Kazan Universiade. “Language training is fundamental. The volunteers are the ones who greet and see off the delegations. They play a big role in the overall impression. I think that we will not have any communicative problems in Kazan.”

Oleg Matytsin said that FISU debriefings would be held on a regular basis. “The International University Sports Federation has decided to make debriefings a compulsory event. We will certainly meet with the organizers of the Games in Gwangju in 2015. It is an invaluable experience that should be preserved and used.

(Source: Tatar Inform Information Agency &Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate)

 Oleg Matytsin