FISU EC in session
BRUSSELS – Today, March 9th, the third and last day of the Executive Meeting was dedicated to the World University Championships. After FISU President Gallien opened the meeting, the floor was given to Leonz Eder, FISU Vice-President and Technical Chair of the Championships.
Luciano Cabral, Leonz Eder, Paulo Ferreira & Julien Buhajezuk reporting on the 2012 WUCs
Mr. Eder together with WUC Director Paulo Ferreira and WUC Executive Assistant Julien Buhajezuk gave an overview of the 2012 World University Championships. In 2012, 27 WUCs were organised by 17 countries. Russia and France both hosted three championships. Six other countries (POL, CZE, KOR, BRA, ESP & POR) hosted two. Chile and Azerbaijan hosted a FISU event for the first time, while the WUCs were hosted on four continents, i.e. Europe, America, Asia and Africa. Looking at the numbers, there were a total of 5,962 total participants (2,696 male athletes, 1,688 female athletes & 1,568 officials) representing 101 countries. There were also two world records at the 3rd WUC Weightlifting in Eilat (ISR). The 12th WUC Chess in Braga (POR) marked the 300th WUC in FISU History. The 2012 WUCs also saw first editions for three sports, i.e. 3×3 Basketball in Kragujevac (SRB); Netball in Cape Town (RSA) and Long Track Speed Skating in Zakopane (POL).
The WUC department has also worked on a new bidding procedure for 2016 and assessed the current online accreditation system after feedback from TD, NUSF and OCs. New proposed sports were evaluated such as American Football, Ski Orienteering, Ultimate Frisbee and Climbing and 9 new bids for the 2014 WUCs were studied as well.
Leonz Eder with IFAF President Tommy Wiking
Then the floor was given to Tommy Wiking, the President of the International American Football Association (IFAF) who gave a presentation of his federation and the involvement of student-athletes in American Football Worldwide. IFAF has 64 member associations and currently, besides powerhouses USA and Canada, University Leagues are played in Korea, Japan, Great Britain, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Australia. The FISU Board accepted American Football as a new sport on the FISU Sports Programme. The acceptance follows a thorough and positive assessment of the sport by the WUC Department.
After the coffee break the floor was given to the bidding committees for the 2014 World University Championships.
The FISU board attributed seven more events for 2014:
7th WUC Match Racing – Trentino (ITA)
1st WUC American Football – Uppsala (SWE)
13th WUC Badminton – Córdoba (ESP)
7th WUC Bridge – Opatija (CRO)
6th WUC Canoe Sprint – Minsk (BLR)
4th WUC Weightlifting – Chiang Mai (THA)
4th WUC Woodball – Perlis (MAS)
This brings to the total number for World University Championships to 24 as 17 were already attributed.
C. Pierre, Press Officer