FISU EC Meeting in Harbin - Day 1

Today, February 13th, FISU President George Killian presided the first day of the Executive Committee meeting which will last until February 16th, prior to the 24th Winter Universiade in Harbin, China.

Day 1 of the Executive Committee meeting was entirely devoted to the World University Championships.

After Mr. Killian opened the meeting, the floor was given to Mr. Sinisa Jasnic, Chair of the CTI and Mr. Laurent Briel, Director of WUC. An overview was given of the 2008 championships earmarking the year with 29 events.

Mr. Briel, Director for WUC & his assitant Mrs. Mangelschots‘I personally think that we can be proud of this championship year 2008 which was a real success for the university sport in general and for FISU in particular’, Mr. Sinisa said. ‘A lot of championships met an increasing success in spite of the fact that they were organized during an Olympic year. The average participation still increased and our team sports are developing. It is the same for the martial arts sports which still meet an increasing success for our Member Federations. Weightlifting, a new sport on the FISU WUC program made quite an entry as well in terms of participants from different continental regions as in quality, putting high level athletes on the medal podium.

Sport Shooting also confirmed to be an enormous success for our Federations. Unfortunately, it seems difficult to find organizers for such a Championship. It is quite the same for the Flatwater Canoeing Championship’s organization. We must also underline the fact that the women’s participation in our events are really exploding.

As Chair of the CTI Championships, I wish to congratulate particularly the Chairs of the Technical Committees. Their devotion contributed to the professionalism and the quality of the organizers. They could give the message that the organization of our events requires a great sense of responsibilities. This responsibility, they must take it to the international level. All this allows our student athletes to live their sport in the best possible conditions.

I would like to recall that each new edition of the World University Championships draws more and more the attention of the International Sports Federations concerned, and as a proof again past year, a lot of Presidents and Secretary-Generals from those International Sports Bodies attended our events’, Mr. Sinisa added.

Mr. Buchel, Sports Manager & Mr. Briel, Director for WUC‘This year 2008 was indeed rich in events’, Mr. Briel commented. ‘However, we could still have some new experiences. It is true that apart the fact that most of the points were positive, we have to notice that this year also showed some elements which can be improved. It is also time to give a new dimension to our World University Championships. They are now on a good cruising speed but the necessary decisions need to be taken to allow these events to be nearer to the reality of the university sport.

After analyzing the reports received from the CISCA members but also from the Organizing Committees, we have a list of proposals to be submitted. As already been informed by receiving the agenda of the EC, we are going to submit new proposals of the sports regulations, a proposal of new contract sticking more to the reality for the WUC and also a new updated dossier of candidature for the WUC 2012.

Those different proposals are issued from the idea that we continuously have to improve the quality of our WUC, so our athletes are the great beneficiaries of those modifications’, Mr. Briel said.

Alf Laser, representing the OC of the 2010 WUC Squash (AUS)Statistics
FISU published an update of the WUC Statistics. Some points of interest for the 2008 edition: 4 new countries were participating for the first time at our Championships, which adds to a total of 145 different countries participating. This figure is even more important as there is no help program for the Championships. We also noticed that an average of 95 different countries could take part at our WUC, which corresponds to the figure of the FISU Member Associations who are really active in FISU.

Medals
The edition of the 2008 WUCs saw the distribution of a total of 818 medals, from which 250 gold ones, 250 silver ones and 318 bronze ones. 63 countries came back from our Championships with medals.

Delegates Bidding Committe 2010 WUC Baseball (JPN)Participation
Regarding the women participation in our events, we notice an impressing increase. This year, two team sports were opened to women, i.e. Floorball and Futsal. The two international Federations concerned by those sports follow our FISU events with a lot of interest and are really supporting us. It is also a historical fact that FISU organized, with the help of the Brazilian Federation, the first international women Futsal competition in the world. Women Handball is also gaining popularity as we had to increase the number of teams for the women tournament from 12 to 14, and we could easily have reached the number of 16 if the organizers had had the necessary logistic means to do so.

Mr. Marian Dymalski, representing the Bidding Committee for the 2010 WUC Sport Shooting (POL)

Unfortunately, we can see a decrease of participation from the African countries to the WUC. On the other hand, we notice that a series of new countries took part in our Championships more than once, mainly from the Middle East and South America.

It is also interesting to notice that the ratio of athletes has been modified. It appears that the number of officials by delegation has decreased a lot these last years, which underlines the increasing participation of athletes.

Another point which should raise our attention is the evolution and interest in some sports. We have, as usual, noticed a constant increase of the participation for martial arts sports, such as it was underlined by our CTI Chair for the WUC and an incredible success for the inaugural edition of Weightlifting.

It need to be point out that for three championships which attract more and more people, in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality there is a shortage of Organizing Committees, i.e. Sport Shooting, Flatwater Canoeing and Cycling.

The FISU WUC Department is busy creating an enhanced policy towards the Organizing Committees of the WUC.

At the last EC meeting, it has been requested to organize a seminar for the CTI Chairs. Indeed, these chairs hardly ever have the opportunity to meet FISU. That is why FISU would like to organize this seminar on a regular basis every 4 years.

The floor was then given to a number of OCs of past 2008 WUCs to give their closing report, i.e. Badminton (POR), Beach Volleyball (GER), Equestrian (ALG), Golf (RSA), Orienteering (EST), Weightlifting & Wrestling (GRE).

Updates were given by OC delegates of the 2010 WUC Cross Country (CAN), 2010 WUC Beach Volleyball (TUR), 2010 WUC Match Racing (GRE), 2010 WUC Rugby 7 (POR), 2010 WUC Squash (AUS) and 2010 WUC Archery (CHN).

Finally three more WUC were attributed for 2010: 2nd WUC Weightlifting to Taichung, Chinese Taipei, 5th WUC Baseball to Tokyo, Japan and the 3rd WUC Sport Shooting to Wroclaw, Poland.