Yesterday, June 22, the press conference on the 4th European Universities Table Tennis Championship took place in Kazan, announcing the start of the championship.

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism of Tatarstan Khalil Shaikhutdinov, Deputy Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Board Azat Kadyrov, Technical Chair of the European University Sports Association Andrzej Hrehorowicz, Vice-president of the Table Tennis Federation of the Republic of Tatarstan Gennady Argakov and chief umpire of the 4th European Universities Table Tennis Championship Aleksandr Mizin.

 

The Championship is held in Kazan on June 23-26 on the basis of the Palace of Sports. Athletes from 18 teams from Poland, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Portugal, Cyprus and Russia will measure their strength in table tennis with each other. Specifically the Championship drew the representatives from Cambridge, Geneva, Nottingham, Rzhev, Mainz Universities, etc.

 

Technical Chair of the European University Sports Association Andrzej Hrehorowicz thanked the Championship Organizing Committee for preparation of the sporting event and marked the excellent condition of the sports halls. “The 4th European Universities Table Tennis Championship has the most beautiful hall I’ve ever seen within 5 years,” he said. “This is the first step we are making in the European way. If everything will go well at European level then everything go well at international level,” he said and wished further success to the athletes and the Championship’s Organizing Committee.

 

Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism of Tatarstan Khalil Shaikhutdinov underlined that such test competitions are necessary for the preparation of the 2013 Universiade. “Books won’t teach you how to stage a tournament of such level, you need practice for this,” he said. According to Khalil Shaikhutdinov many young specialists were involved in the Championship’s organization. He accentuated the necessity of training new personnel for running international sporting events.

 

Today, June 23 is Day 1 of the qualifying round of the 4th European Universities Table Tennis Championship. For details, please see the official website of the event: http://s-kazan.ru