Today Astana held a briefing in the Central Communications Service with the Head of the Almaty 2017 Winter Universiade Organizing Directorate Nail Nurov.
Kazakhstan is the first among CIS countries to host the Winter Universiade. Currently, Organising Committee is in the active phase of preparation for the event. Operational activities are being accomplished in accordance and guidance of International Federation of University Sport (FISU).
“The Universiade is a youth sporting festivity. Next winter, Almaty will become a platform for cultural exchange among the best representatives of universities from different countries. We are happy with the fact that the Universiade will be held in Almaty, because Almaty is the city of students. Every fourth people here is a student”, noted during the briefing the Head of the WU 2017 Organizing Directorate Nail Nurov.
Construction of the venues. The games will be held in 8 venues, 2 of which are new ice complexes built specially for the Universiade. As well as the Athletes’ Village, which is in Alatau district of the city. Construction of all new venues proceeds ahead of schedule and will be finished 2-3 months earlier than it was required. The share of local content at the venues is 60% and it created more than 4200 jobs. All developers are local companies.
Sports program. There will be more than 2000 athletes competing in 12 disciplines. Currently, 58 countries officially registered to take part in the event. The final list of participating countries will be known at the end of this year. There are 4 test events planned to be held before the Universiade, where apart from technical services the functional areas of the Organising Committee will be tested. 127 international judges and about 600 national technical officials will be involved in the event. During the games, there will be functioning the Games Control Centre which will monitor the event online 24 hours a day.
Organising Committee will make everything possible for comfortable stay of participants and guests of the games:
Arrival and departure. Almaty International Airport, “Almaty-1” and “Almaty-2” railway stations are the official points of the arrival and departure of the participants. It is expected that 90% of participants will arrive at the airport of Almaty on international flights. In order to reduce the time spent in the airport, there will be special pass organized for participants of the Universiade.
Accommodation. More than 2000 athletes will stay in the Athletes’ Village. Apart from the athletes, there will be about 1000 guests that will stay in hotels of Almaty. Currently, an active work is being carried out with hotels of all categories.
Food. During the Universiade, there will be functioning 1000-seat dining rooms located in the Athletes’ Village. In accordance with FISU requirements, there will be 5 cuisine types: Kazakh/National, European/Mediterranean, Asian, Vegetarian and Halal. Recommended daily caloric intake (4-4.5 thousand) will be taken into account while developing the menu.
Transportation. About 520 units of vehicles are planned to be used for the Universiade. The main and alternative traffic routes were developed together with Almaty DIA for Universiade vehicles. All vehicles involved in the event will be equipped with GPS. Besides, there will be functioning a special control centre that will follow and manage directions of vehicles.
Medical services. There will be 8 heath care facilities organized for medical services and 30 operating ambulance crews. There will be medical centre in the Athletes’ Village. Doping control stations will be located at each venue and Athletes’ Village.
Volunteers. About 3000 volunteers will take part in the organization of the games. During the event, volunteers will work in more than 30 functional areas and provide needed services for athletes, coaches, delegates and tourists of Almaty. The main selection is planned to start in September. After the selection procedure, there will be trainings for volunteers from October until January 2017.
Learning programs. On the platforms of leading universities in Almaty free English classes will be organized for DIA, emergency and medical services. Currently, 600 representatives had already taken classes and 2000 more representatives plan to take English classes.
Torch Relay. Start of the Winter Universiade Torch Relay is planned for January 25. In Astana the torch of the Universiade will be lightened in Nazarbayev University. Torch Relay will involve all regions of the country, and each region will lighten its own torch. Students will have opportunity to come up with their own way of lightening the torch. After travelling around the country, the torch will arrive to Almaty. According to plan, 16 torches will be joined in Almaty and at the culmination point of the Opening ceremony they will joined in one big flame.
Broadcasting. According to FISU, the expected audience of the Universiade will be more than 1 billion TV viewers in 80 countries. Traditionally, as all winter games are broadcasted on EUROSPORT. Currently, FISU is under way to win the right to broadcast the event at the largest sport channels, such as ESPN and CCTV5. It is expected that about 400 foreign and local media representatives will be involved in the event. For comfortable work of media, there will be non-stop operating International Broadcast Centre and press centers.
Marketing program. Organising Committee invites local and foreign companies for cooperation. Currently, an active work is being conducted to attract local and foreign partners. Already signed memorandum with JSC “Samruk Kazyna” – main partner of the Universiade.
Wellness Solutions company is official supplier of the Universiade 2017. With this partner 3 venues, such as Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, Ice Arena and Athletes’ Village will have equipped gym with – TECHNOGYM.
Online and offline ticket sales for the Opening and Closing ceremonies, as well as events will start in autumn.
Legacy. All venues of the Unviersiade will be available for public use. Thus, in the Ice Palace and Ice Arena a schedule is being developed of different types of sport, sport sections and sport clubs organized for citizens including figure skating, wrestling, boxing, swimming, dancing, etc. Two multifunctional ice complexes with 12 and 3 thousand capacities will be capable to attract about 800 thousand attendees annually. In the framework of legacy program, the Olympic preparation centre, centre for public services, daily life services, hospitals, post offices, banks, police station, etc.
12 000 capacity stadium and Athletes’ village will be the starting point for growth of not only mass sport, but also will affect to the development of Alatau district in Almaty.
“Universiade is the biggest multisporting event in the 25-year history of the country. With the Universiade Almaty receives new sport facilities – multifunctional ice complexes, which I believe in future, will become a place for popularization of Olympic winter sports”, Nail Nurov concluded.