Hundreds of Kazan citizens met Tatarstan delegation at the International Airport Kazan yesterday

On June 1st, hundreds of citizens of Kazan met Tatarstan delegation coming home from Brussels with victory.

On May 31st, 27 member FISU Executive committee voting results on the city to host 2013 World Summer Universiade were announced in Brussels. Kazan won the right to Universiade over Spanish Vigo and South Korean Gwang Ju already in the first round, receiving 20 positive votes.

Tatarstan delegation was met at the plane stairway by the Republic’s President Mintimer Shaimiev, RT Prime-minister Rustem Minnekhanov. The capital mayor Ilsur Metshin, RT minister for youth, sports and tourism Marat Bariev, All-Russian student sports association President Oleg Matytsin came out of Yakovlev-42 wearing matching red sports gear with “Kazan” on it.

Hundreds of boys and girls weaving flags bearing logo of the future Universiade met them near 2nd Terminal of the airport shouting “Universiade, Russia, Kazan”. Tatarstan President addressed all from the tribune, beginning his speech with “Hurray”.

"Dear friends, beginning today we, the people of Tatarstan, are the hosts of 2013 Universiade. Congratulations. This is an occasion of great significance – we didn’t yet have such an even in history of our people. It’s great that Kazan begins its second millenium with the World Student Games", - spoke Mintimer Shaimiev in his welcoming speech.

In his words, this is a sign of trust of FISU in the people of Tatarstan. There is no doubt Kazan wil hold the best youth festival in the history of Universiade. "We can!" – believes the President.

The Olympics in Sochi will turn the city into the center of winter sports, whilst the Universiade will make Kazan into the center of summer sporting games, - underlined the head of the Republic.

"Today we are living together an important event in life of Kazan, Tatarstan & all Russia. We managed to prove to International community that the future of our country is in its youth and that our traditions are the strongest in the world", - spoke Oleg Matytsin.

"The victory didn’t come easy, but we were able to make it with the help of the leadership of the Republic, coordinated efforts of our team and the support of the students. Millenium-old Kazan will once again welcome guests from all over the world. This is a great responsibility, requiring great preparation. We are ready to take it on ", - noted Ilsur Metshin.

At the end of the official part, the youth that came to welcome Tatartan delegation was treated to a concert, whilst the journalists were invited to attend the press-conference with the key figures of this joint victory.

In the words of Mintimer Shaimiev, Russia’s winning the rights to hold the Winter Olympics in Sochi and the Summer Student Games in Kazan speaks of new return of political and economic stability into the Russian society after difficult transition years. The victory of Kazan didn’t come to Tatarstan overnight – the path was much longer. Modern sports facilities were built in the Republic, re-established strong professional teams achieved good results in all-Russian and international sports competitionss. There is no stronger uniting force than sports, neither in our country nor in the world in general.

"After tasting the bitterness of loosing in competition for holding 2011 Universiade, RT government and city administration did practically the impossible. The value of winning the right to host 2013 Universiade is worth all the efforts. This is a victory of all Russia", - underlined Mintimer Shaimiev. He said that Kazan candidature was strongly supported by Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime-minister Vladimir Putin.

"We cannot yet fully envision how Kazan will have to change before the opening of the 2013 World Summer Student Games. We will have to implement a lot in the coming 5 years", - spoke the President of Tatarstan.

When asked about the feelings experienced in Brussels when FISU President George Killian was opening the envelop, Rustam Minnekhanov said they cannot be explained in words. “We felt the wave of strong emotions. We worked towards that moment for quite some time, made necessary efforts to come to that victory and are very happy”.

"It seemed to take so long for the envelop to be opened that I practically ran out of emotions. I just heard our delegation shouting “Kazan, Kazan!”, shared his feelings Ilsur Metshin.

"I can’t speak of anything said after hearing George Killian say “Kazan”. Indeed, this cannot be rendered with words. All of our team was happy, we were overflown by emotion ", - said Marat Bariev.

"We do not yet fully understand what a big responsibility comes with this great victory. The envelop being opened, I re-lived everything done in the preparation process. I didn’t feel anything but feelings of joy upon hearing “Kazan”, - spoke Oleg Matytsin. He said that the Universiade in Kazan will give a strong impetus to student sports in Russia, thus strengthening Olympic sports. Over 60 percent of those going to Beijing are our students.

"The Summer Universiade mandatory program includes 13 Olympic sport types. The country hosting the games has a right to offer a few more types of sports. We proposed to include rowing, trap-shooting, weight-lifting, boxing, field hockey and “Bilbau” waist-belt wrestling", - said Marat Bariev.

One of the largest weak points of Kazan for the purposes of hosting the Universiade is the state of our International Airport. Rustem Minnekhanov said that the International Airport will undergo significant reconstructions through 2012. Reconstruction of 1st Terminal and construction of new ones will increase its capacity 4 times. On top of that “Tatarstan” airlines will also be modernized, the company will obtain new planes. Kazan International Airport will start accepting flights of world leading airlines.

"I have no doubt that Kazan will be ready for Universiade, completing all sports facilities according to modern requirements", - finished Mintimer Shaimiev.

For your information: After Olympic games, World Universiade is the second largest and most important sports competition. It is being conducted by International University Sports Federation (FISU), representing 141 countries. All-Russian University Sports Association is one of its members.

Events of 2013 Universiade are to take place at 48 sports & related facilities. They will include Kazan’s central stadium, “Basket-hall”, Field hockey center, “Tatneft-arena”, Palace of wrestling and others. The budget of 2013 Universiade is 604 million EURO.

Kazan started works on building a new multi-purpose stadium for 45 thousand seats, Tennis Academy with 14 courts, Universiade village to accommodate 10 thousand sportsmen and about 1 thousand service personnel and a center for water sports. By 2012 Kazan International airport will be able to service up to 2000 passengers an hour, flying from a diversity of airports of the world.