KATOWICE – On 10 October, AZS, the Polish University Sports Association, held its annual University Sports Gala in the newly renovated hall of the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice. More than 300 people came to the Heart of Silesia to witness the annual sum up of the most important awards in the University Sports in Poland.
The event was hosted by Prof. Marek Rocki, President of the Polish University Sports Association, Prof. Wiesław Banyś, Rector of the University of Silesia and Bogusław Oleksy, president of the Katowice University Sports Association.
Polish 2013 WU Medalists
At the very beginning of the ceremony, organizers had their time on the scene to conclude the 26th edition of the Silesian University Championship. Prof. Marek Rocki and Bogusław Oleksy honored the best Silesian teams in general, medal and private universities classifications. The Gala was also a chance to hand the “Śląskie Gryfy” awards for the people most involved in local university sports during the year.
After the first exiting moments of the regional competition, the hosts of the ceremony honored the most engaged AZS activists. The ‘Eugeniusz Piasecki’ award for best sport instructors was given to Ewa Książek (AZS Gliwice) and Ryszard Czaja (AZS AWF Katowice). Krzysztof Całka (AZS Zakopane) received senior AZS member honors.
The Gala was also a great opportunity to honor the young student activists for their involvement for AZS. Kamila Gałka, Anna Romanowska and Piotr Majsak were awarded with the ‘Eugeniusz Pietrasiak’ Scholarship. The ‘Green Pen’ award for the best student journalist went to Maciej Wadowski.
Afterwards, the stage was given to the athletes that won medals for Poland in the international events. First, Tadeusz Rożej (Ministry of Sport and Tourism representative) handed the ministry awards to the medalists of the 26th Winter Universiade in Trentino including Zuzanna Smykała (snowboard), Mateusz Habrat (alpine skiing) and Adam Cieślar, Paweł Słowiok i Szczepan Kupczak (Nordic combined).
Polish 2014 WUC Medalists
Next, the stage was given to the 2013/2014 World University Championship medalists. Aleksandra Lach, Anna Gasik, Maciej Klekowski and Dariusz Świercz were awarded for chess, Joanna Dorociak, Dawid Grabowski and Adam Wicenciak for rowing. Also Martyna Klekot (cycling) and Magdalena Krukowska (canoeing) joined the honored students. The hosts of the Gala have also praised the organizers of the World University Championships that took place in Poland this year (Archery, Chess and Cycling).
The last international mark of the evening was the awards for best Polish teams at the 2014 EUSA Games in Rotterdam. FISU Executive Committee Member Marian Dymalski handed the awards to the teams representatives of Vincent Pol University in Lublin (women’s handball), AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków (men’s volleyball), Kozminski University in Warsaw (tennis, table tennis), Rzeszow University of Technology (table tennis), Opole University (badminton) and University of Warsaw (table tennis).
Polish University Championships winners
Right after the individual awards the organisers proceeded to the main part of the ceremony, dedicated to the Polish University Championship. Authorities of the Universities and the AZS representatives received the awards for the university types, medal and general classification. After a one year gap The University of Warsaw beat all its opponents and came back to the first place at the general classification podium. The final ranking was based on the top 30 results from the 41 disciplines in which 170 universities competed this year. The award for the best organizer was given to AZS Poznań, represented by Tomasz Szponder, for the swimming championship. It was the biggest Polish University Championship event of the year and gathered over 1,000 competitors.
After the official awards part all of the guests had also a chance to relax during the energetic instrumental concert of Electrica Duo.
(Source: AZS)