2007 SU Update: Work Session in Bangkok
February 28th, 2007
FISU Director General, Eric Saintrond arrived last Monday in Bangkok where he will attend several work meetings in the frame of the preparation of the Summer Universiade. At his arrival, he met with the Executive Director of the Universiade, Dr. Sumate Yamnoon, as well as several other members of the UBOC staff to coordinate the financial help program for disadvantaged countries. A budget of about 750,000 USD will be dedicated to the program which will enable the participation of Member Association countries as well as Non-Member Association countries having an annual GNP per capita of less than 2,000 USD. Jointly with UBOC, our Director General then analyzed the present participation to the Universiade. To this day, 118 countries have already announced that they will participate at the games, meaning that more than 7,500 participants are foreseen to come. Mr. Saintrond added “We are expecting to experience a record participation in Bangkok as a total of 17 sports make up the programme and we think of reaching 10,000 athlete-participants and officials all together. Fortunately, the accommodation capacity of the Thammasat University Campus is sufficient, however, it is necessary to remain cautious as it will not be possible to significantly increase the number of beds just a couple of months before the Games”. The Thammasat Village will genuinely be the heart of the Universiade as in addition to the accommodation facilities for the delegations and other services (restaurants, hospital, recreation center…) the campus will also house the Accreditation Center, Press Center, International Broadcasting Center, the offices of the Organizing Committee as well as a big part of the offices of the FISU Secretariat.
