The ominous Friday the 13th was actually a very good day here in Cordoba. Being the second competing day of the badminton team event and the first competing day of the football event during the 1st European Universities Games, it also brought some disappointment for the teams - especially those that lost some matches and/or did not qualify for the higher places. Fortunately, the EUSA Games are much more than just a sports competition; all participants will return home richer - with new friends and valuable experiences...

The happiest team today was certainly the Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University from Russia, which won the badminton team event, held in Encinarejo. Second came the team of University of Duisburg-Essen from Germany and third place shared between the Jozef Rusiecki University of Bordeaux from France and University of Bern from Switzerland. The President of EUSA Mr Adam Roczek, the President of the Organising Committee Mr Manuel Torres, the Mayor of Encinarejo Mr Ruiz Madruga and the Vice-President of FISU Mr Stefan Bergh awarded the medals.

Football matches started today with the group competitions; both men’s and women’s teams had their first matches today.

Friday the 13th was also the launch date of the daily newspaper; the official diary of the Games, available in printed versions in all the sports and accommodation building related to the EUSA Games, and also online at the official website www.eusagames2012.com.

Tomorrow is the opening ceremony, starting at 8pm in the Fontanar Open-air athletics stadium, but in the morning the competitions in volleyball and beach volleyball start. As a prelude to these competitions, general technical meetings for these sports were held today, to inform all participating teams of all the rules and regulations that apply to the events and to make the draw for the competitions.

As always, see our Facebook page for details and don’t forget to add it to your favourites. There are some surprises soon coming up – only for the people who have liked our page :)