Yesterday the first day of the Executive Committee meeting of the European University Sports Association 02-2011 took place in the premises of the Polish Olympic center. The meeting is being hosted by the Polish University Sport Federation (AZS) in Warsaw, Poland on June 3 and 4, 2011.



The meeting officially started on Friday morning by the welcome address of the President of AZS Mr Marek Rocki and the Secretary General of the Polish Olympic Committee Mr Adam Krzesinski who greeted EUSA representatives and expressed their enthusiasm for university sport. Mr Krzesinski was a former student athlete of AZS, and also a double medallist at the Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996.



The president of EUSA Mr Gualtieri thanked Mr Rocki and Mr Krzesinski for their hospitality and continuous support to university sport. At this occasion he presented them with a limited edition of the enlarged EUSA book.



As Poland is about to take over the EU Presidency in the beginning of this July, Mr Rafal Piechota, Representative of the Ministry of sport and tourism gave an overview on the Polish presidency programme in the field of sport, which priority is the development of new European initiatives in the field of sport.



After the welcome addresses and the presentation, EUSA EC meeting continued with regular order of business. Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, EUSA Secretary General presented an overview of the Office report and activities as of the last meeting which was held in Eilat in March.



Mr Adam Roczek presented the report on the European Universities Championships 2011 and expressed satisfaction about the preparations of the organisers for this year's events and participation confirmed so far. He also pointed out that while some championships are already full, there are still some places in some events, and that the interested NUSAs or universities should contact EUSA Office for possible last-minute registrations.



Mr Gualtieri, Mr Pecovnik and Mr Roczek also presented the progress of the European Universities Games which are to be held in Cordoba, Spain in July 2012. Minimum requirements and regulations are being prepared for this first edition of the largest European university sports event. Together with the organisers, EUSA will have the last EC meeting this year end of November in Cordoba, and in January the EUSA Convention will be held in Cordoba as well, fully dedicated to the 1st European Universities Games.



The candidatures for organisation of the European Universities Championships 2013 were then presented to the EC members. After the presentation and review of the bids, fifteen sports on the programme of 2013 were attributed:
Badminton: Uppsala, Sweden
Basketball: Split, Croatia
Beach Volleyball: Oporto, Portugal
Football: Almeria, Spain
Futsal: Malaga, Spain
Golf: Saint-Saens, France
Handball: Katowice, Poland
Judo: Coimbra, Portugal
Karate: Budapest, Hungary
Rowing: Poznan, Poland
Rugby: Sofia, Bulgaria
Table Tennis: Zonguldak, Turkey
Taekwondo: Kazan, Russia
Tennis: Bar, Montenegro
Volleyball: Nicosia, Cyprus



After the attribution of the EUC 2013 events, the Secretary General Mr Pecovnik presented the bidding process of the European Universities Games 2014. Three letters of intentions were received from the NUSAs of the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal which have until September 1, 2011 to submit the bids. The 2014 Games will be attributed after the presentation of the candidates at November 26, 2011 at the EUSA EC meeting in Cordoba.



Mr Andrej Pisl, EUSA Communications manager, presented the report on the European Anti-Doping Initiative (EADIn), the young ambassadors selected for the Anti-Doping Camp, taking place in Burghausen between June 22 and 26, 2011. He also presented the report on the volunteer programme which is being carried out in cooperation with the Student Commission. Mr Pisl also reported on the IT system, focusing on the new EUSA on-line features, as well as the event registration and accreditation system which are being used by the EUSA events organisers.



The financial and legal matters were presented by Mr Leonz Eder, EUSA Treasurer a.i., commending the work of the secretariat and acknowledging the intensive cooperation with Mr Thomas Loher, EUSA Legal Advisor.



The formal meeting concluded by the presentation of Mrs Olga Doktorova, Student Commission chairlady, about the activities of the Commission, and the plans and intentions of their activities in the future.



After the meeting, the representatives of the Olympic Committee gave a short guided tour of the Museum of Sport, presenting the history of sport in general, with emphasis on the development of sport in Poland.



The first day of the Executive Committee meeting concluded by a formal dinner, hosted by the City of Wroclaw. Mr Rafal Dutkiewicz, the Major of the City of Wroclaw welcomed the EUSA EC members and guests, and invited them to the city of love. The dinner was also attended by several important guests and representatives of the city and AZS, including prof. Marek Rocki, AZS Poland President, prof. Marek Konopczynski, AZS Warsaw President, Mr. Marian Dymalski, AZS Steering Committee and FISU EC member, and other officials and guests.



Mr Gualtieri thanked Mr Dutkiewicz for the kind gesture and his strong support for sport, especially on university level. An autographed special edition of the EUSA book, giving an overview of the first ten years of the organisation was presented to the Major of Wroclaw by Mr Gualtieri.

The meeting continues today at the University of Warsaw.