At the occasion of the Seminar for the European Media during the AIPS Europe Congress 2015 in Minsk, EUSA Vice President Mr Leonz Eder was invited to a meeting with high authorities of Belarus in the modern building of the National Olympic Committee to discuss the cooperation in the field of university sport.

Michael Zhuravkov, Minister of Education and Chairman of Belarusian Association of Student Sport underlined the importance of physical education and sport in all school levels. He said that all students can at least choose one sport to be practiced during their study time, and he also mentioned that Belarus participated in several European Universities Championships in the past, with Handball in 2007 and 2010, European Universities Games 2012 with a Handball team, and EUC Rowing and Judo in 2015.



Maksim Ryzhenkov, the First Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus and Assistant to the President of the Republic of Belarus on Issues of Sports highlighted the success of sportsmen of his country at different levels, such as Olympic Games, World Championships, but also FISU and EUSA events. Additionally he said that for the Government also mass sport plays a very important role in order to get or keep the society healthy. A lot of Belarus professionals were student athletes before their Olympic career, that’s why EUSA and FISU events are very important for Belarus.



Mr Eder expressed the best regards on behalf of EUSA President Adam Roczek and his gratitude for this meeting. He was impressed by the state of the art sport facilities in the Capital city of Minsk and encouraged the Belarus authorities to bid for several EUSA events, such as competitions, seminars, EC meetings. After the great success of the IIHF World Cup 2014, Minsk will host the European Youth Olympic Festival, International Biathlon, Minsk Half Marathon and many others. He thanked the authorities for this fruitful meeting and expressed the will of EUSA to further cooperate with Belarus.



The meeting was also attended by Valentina Baliabo, Director of the national governing body for university sport The Republican Center of Physical Education and Sport for Pupils and Students and Deputy of the Chairman of Belarusian Association of Student Sport, Natallia Aliokhina, Editor of the Department of Educational Problems of the newspaper Nastaunitskaya Hazeta and Tatsiana Yeromina, the Head of the International Sports Activity Department of the mentioned Center of Physical Education and Sport for Pupils and Students.