Today, the first competitions officially started at the 1st European Universities Games here in Cordoba – the honour went to the badminton team competitions. Mr Miguel Ruiz Madruga, the Mayor of Encinarejo, the neighbouring city in the province where badminton is played, opened the competitions, welcoming the participants to their village. He said that he and his colleagues and villagers are very proud to host Badminton and later on Table Tennis in Encinarejo. Tomorrow, the competitions in badminton continue, and the first medals will already be awarded at the EUSA Games.

The provincial government of Cordoba hosted the first press conference of the event at their headquarters in the city. Mr Manuel Torres, President of the Games’ Organizing Committee welcomed the press and the participants and introduced the event. Mr Adam Roczek, President of EUSA, thanked the Organising committee and the government officials for their support and involvement in the development of the University Sport in Europe; specifically with the organisation of these Games which are the first of the kind in the history of EUSA. Mr Aitor Canibe Sanchez, EUSA EC member and Head of the Spanish University Unit at the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Education and Sport, thanked EUSA for the trust given to Cordoba and Spain in implementing the task of organising the first edition of the EUSA Games.

Apart from the badminton competitions, the day was otherwise marked with several other meetings on one hand and trainings on the other. There were two SCAC (Supervision, Control and Arbitration Committee) meetings today – for Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, and the General Technical Meeting for Football, which starts competitions tomorrow. At the meeting, a draw was also made, putting the teams in 4 groups in men’s and 3 groups in women’s competition.

The day continued with the EUSA meeting with the representatives of the national university sports associations who are acting as general coordinators during the 1st European Universities Games. EUSA representatives welcomed the representatives of 11 national university sports associations who were already present in Cordoba, and thanked them for their cooperation and involvement.

As mentioned, tomorrow the football competitions will start, and the first medals will already be awarded.

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