Prominent athletes have already held a road tour
dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the ‘Russia – Country of
Sports’ Forum in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, and Ufa on their way to
Kemerovo. At each stop, the sports stars speak about and show off iconic sports
facilities and meet with young athletes. The road tour was organized by the
Russian Ministry of Sports and RC Sport, the sports platform of the Roscongress
Foundation.
Tokyo 2020 artistic gymnastics champion Lilia
Akhaimova and Russian national team basketball player Victor Keyru paid a visit
to the 2018 World Cup stadium in Nizhny Novgorod. “This is my first visit to
Nizhny Novgorod, and I’m simply in awe of this arena. It’s a very beautiful
stadium and a real landmark of the city. It’s great that not only football is
held here, but also concerts and even weddings! It’s crucial that such sports
facilities become centres of attraction for residents,” Akhaimova said. The
road tour participants also visited the Academy 52 sports base outside of
Nizhny Novgorod.
In Kazan, Keyru was joined by Sochi 2014 cross-country
skiing champion Alexander Legkov. Together they attended the final of the first
national school volleyball league and met with Olympic champion Maxim
Mikhailov.
“Unfortunately, during my childhood there were no
competitions of this magnitude and with such a large audience. It’s really
great that children can already feel like professional athletes. Children’s
sports are the most important thing,” Mikhailov said. He also noted that he has
been playing for Zenit–Kazan since 2010 that the city transformed before his
eyes for the Universiade 2013 and continues to develop today. “We have simply
everything here: from good roads to lots of cool sports facilities,” the
legendary volleyball player said.
After the volleyball match, Legkov and Keyru went to
Uram Park, the largest extreme sports centre in the country. Legkov was so
impressed that he even put on a helmet and took a BMX bike for a ride on a
track. “All the conditions are in place here for skateboarding, BMX, 3x3
basketball, and other popular and youth sports. It’s essential that such
complexes as Uram appear throughout the country,” Keyru said.
Kazan is currently hosting the final event of the
revived Spartakiad – a gymnastics tournament in which Tokyo 2020 winners Artur
Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagorny took part. The road tour participants also paid a visit
to them.
“This year, Kazan is hosting the third All-Russian
tournament, and the city always warmly welcomes gymnasts. I’m glad there are
always a lot of children in the stands,” Dalaloyan said. “Any competition that
combines numerous sports is a great motivation for me. When you see the results
of the winners in different events, it’s really encouraging and motivating,”
Nagorny said about the Spartakiad.
After receiving parting words from the gymnasts,
Legkov travelled on to Ufa, the next destination on the road tour, where he met
with skiers from Bashkortostan and also took a fencing master class from
Olympic champion Adelina Zagidullina. These events were held at the
Bashkortostan Sports Training Centre named after 13-time Paralympic Games
champion Rima Batalova. This unique sports complex, which opened in 2019,
offers training in 49 sports. Legkov also visited the new Gymnastics Centre,
which opened this spring.
“Bashkir athletes have excellent conditions for
training. The Wrestling Palace and other facilities are also coming soon. It’s
great that just as much attention is being paid here to the development of
grassroots and school sports. At the initiative of the head [of the Republic of
Bashkortostan] Radiy Khabirov, a programme is being implemented to build
standard-size pools. The ‘Wrestling in School!’ programme is being implemented,
and Ufa will host a school sports festival of the CIS countries in November,”
Legkov said.
Three-time Olympic synchronized swimming champion Alexandra Patskevich oversaw the Moscow stage of the road tour. Olympic speed skating medallist Olga Fatkulina will handle the road tour stage in Chelyabinsk, two-time Olympic shooting champion Vitalina Batsarashkina in Omsk, and two-time Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling winner Roman Vlasov in Novosibirsk. The road tour will conclude in Kemerovo, where the ‘Russia – Country of Sports’ Forum will kick off its 10th anniversary celebrations on 28 September.
For more information about the road tour and other sports projects of RC Sport, please visit: t.me/Sport_Roscongress.
