The Opening Ceremony of the 8th European Universities Tennis Championship took place on the evening of September 4th, 2011, in the Aula of the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The Ceremony was attended among other political and academic authorities by the Rector of the University of St. Gallen, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger, by the President of the Parliament of the Canton of St. Gallen, Karl Güntzel and the Mayor of the City of St. Gallen, Thomas Scheitlin.



OC President Daniel Studer welcomed the participants from 12 different european nations. "We will do our best that you will bring back some great impressions not only from your tennis games but also from Switzerland and the lovely people here," he said.



The EUSA Delegate, EC Member Olaf Tabor stressed the fact that "we are expecting a remarkable level of performance. Our championships are not only competitions, but also great opportunities to add to the academic prestige of the university, to reinforce confidence and personal capacities of the athltes and finally to make new friends all over Europe."



EUSA is also represented by Nick Grivas, Technical Delegate for Tennis, and EC Member Leonz who is the Director of University Sport in St. Gallen. The Rector of St. Gallen University, Thomas Bieger, mentioned the great importance of sport in the life of students. He also said that friendship, endurance and fairplay belong to the main goals of sporting activities. Finally he officially declared the 8th European Universities Tennis Championship open.



The competition will host 23 teams representing 17 universities from 12 countries and will be held in the two Tennis Centers Gründenmoos and Ullmann. Among the players there are some very good athletes with ATP resp. WTA points.



After the preliminary round a cultural and touristic program in the city and region of St. Gallen is planed for Wednesday, before the quarter-, semi- and finals starts from Thursday to Saturday this week.

For the latest information and results, please see www.unisg.ch/euctennis2011.