Today is the official first day of some of the competitions. While we welcomed the 3x3 basketball teams, the athletes in futsal, volleyball and chess were already set to kick off the matches!

In Miskolc the EUG started this morning with the volleyball competition in Ice Hall venue for the women’s competition and Generali Sports Hall for the men’s competition. 

In the women’s tournament, it’s the University of Valencia from Spain that opened this edition of EUG2024. They won in 3 sets against the team of Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education from Warsaw, Poland.

Nikola Einberga, captain of the University of Valencia confided to our micro: “it was a difficult match, it was a warm up, because we were a little bit sleepy, we woke up at 6:30”. It's also her third EUSA event, so she expects it to be as good as the previous one she participated in and hopes to make new friends.

For the men’s competition, the first match was between the West University of Timisoara (ROU) and the University of Rostock (GER). After winning the first two sets, the University of Rostock faced a more challenging match as the West University of Timisoara won the third set. This required the Rostock team to show more rigor to finish the match, ultimately winning the fourth set 25-22. We can't wait to see the next matches of the volleyball competition!

It was also the kickoff for the chess competition in Miskolc this afternoon. The rapid competition took place in the new university library. Each university's team was composed of two players. They played three matches, and currently, the University of Ozyegin University from Turkey is at the top of the rankings after the first day of competition.

During this time in Debrecen, it was the kick off of the futsal competition in the women's category between the University of Minho (POR) and Tampere University (FIN). Tampere University dominated during this game and the final result became 5:3 for Finland. The spectators as well as the teams were extremely excited about the opening game which set the bar high for the upcoming games.

In the afternoon the men's futsal team games started and showed their strengths, the first game took place between the Azerbaijan State Academy of Physical Education and Sports (AZE) and the Esterházy Károly Catholic University (HUN), ending with the spectacular result of 16:1 for Azerbaijan State Academy of Physical Education and Sports. 

In the same time, strong competitive spirit was present in the Olah Gabor venue, on the exciting match between University of Munster (GER) and University of Cyprus (CYP). The match was full of tight seconds and great skills from both teams. However, the win was conquered by the University of Cyprus, with the result of 3:2. 

We had the chance to speak with two players of Unviersity of Munster, Christopher Tunggul and Till Remke to check their first impressions of the European Universities Games 2024, as well as the impact of the games to their sports carreer. 

To the question: What is the most exciting thing related to this event?; Christopher said "People I would say because we're coming together from different countries in Europe and interact and it's always nice to see where they come from and cultural exchange of course. Yeah, I would say I would say people."

To the question: Does this tournament push you to be better? - Till said "This competition is absolutely the highlight of the year. We come here thinking, okay be better than the last time. It's a process of improving ourselves, comparing to better teams and asking how big is the gap? And then always try next time. Yeah, when you compete, that gap is getting smaller and smaller. Yeah, absolutely the highlight of the year." 

Besides all the thrills on the courts and the arrival points, the excitement of the event was also present in the GTM rooms. Representatives of football met in Debrecen, where rules, regulations, competition concept and the official draw were made.

In Miskolc,  two combat sports: kickboxing and judo, were patiently following the information regarding the rules, regulations, and other competition details. Special attention was given to the official draws, as it is the start of the strategic planning of every future match against the different rivals. 

It has been a great start of the EUG 2024! The games are on! 

For more information, please see www.eug2024.eu