Summer Universiade 2011 opens in Shenzhen
Baku, August 12 (AZERTAC). Nearly 12,000 athletes and official delegation members from 152 countries have participated in the 26th Summer World Student Games (Universiade) which kicked off tonight in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Some 7,865 athletes compete for 306 gold medals in 22 Olympic and two other non-Olympic disciplines (chess, sports aerobics) in 41 stadiums across the city. Most of the participants come from China, Russia and Japan, according to organizers.
Azerbaijan`s 25-strong team will compete in track and field athletics, judo, taekwondo, gymnastics, fencing and weightlifting events.
China’s President Hu Jintao together with the President of Mozambique Armando Guebuza, the President of Bolivia Juan Evo Morales Ayma, the President of Fiji Ratu Epeli Naliaticau, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi, as well as the Prime Minister of Romania Emil Boc will be present at tonight’s opening ceremony, state media reported.
Universiades are World Games for students hosted by the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) and which run every other year in the winter and summer. It’s the second largest multi-sport event in the world after the Summer Olympics in terms of the number of participants.
According to the official Shenzhen Universiade web site, the city has gone out of its way to provide a comfortable environment for its guests. Over 400,000 cars will be removed from the city’s streets to create “green passages” for visitors. Furthermore, like at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, the Shenzhen Universiade will be supplied with a surfeit of volunteer hosts. Roughly 1.27 million volunteers will flood the city to provide help to an expected 8 million visitors over the event’s 11 days.
######
|
 |
 |
 |
Other news in this section
