KUALA LUMPUR – FISU Secretary-General/CEO Eric Saintrond was present at the ceremony organized by MASUM (Malaysian University Sports Council) for its best college athletes of the year 2013, where he met with the authorities of the Ministry of Education. The ASUM will host the 4th edition of the World University Woodball in 2014 (Perlis) and the 9th WUC Squash in 2016 (Kuala Lumpur). The MASUM will also represent its candidacy for the WUC Rowing in 2018 (Putrajaya). “Putrajaya has an excellent infrastructure which will be able to successfully accommodate the WUC Rowing”, confirmed Eric Saintrond during a press conference that followed the ceremony. “But beyond the WUC, we discussed with the departmental authorities about an even more ambitious project, namely the organization of the Summer Universiade in 2021 or in 2023”, the FISU Secretary- General explained. “Indeed, with the existing infrastructure that is available, we believe that the application of Malaysia for the World University Games offer an outstanding development platform to the student community of the country but also to the local population and tourism.”
The Hon. Dato HJ Nasir bin Mat Dam, Deputy Secretary-General in charge of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education, is undoubtedly the most convinced person of the relevance of this project. In fact, he decided to live the Universiade Kazan from the inside and shared the life of its delegation in the Athletes’ Village of the Kazan Universiade in 2013. So it is with great enthusiasm that he welcomed a Universiade project in Kuala Lumpur. Eric Saintrond also had a long talk with the presidents, secretary-generals and members of the Council of MASUM and the SEAN University Sport Council. “We must support and encourage the dynamic establishment of university sport in this region of Asia, because it is a fantastic platform for the further development of university sport in Asia”, Mr. Saintrond added.
(Source: Eric Saintrond, FISU SG/CEO)