FISU President Gallien receives a gift from Almaty
SAINT-PETERSBURG – University Sports did not go unnoticed at the annual SportAccord Convention which gathered the representatives of the international sports world in the beautiful and historic city of St. Petersburg from May 27th to 29th, 2013.
Members of the IOC, International Sports Federations, host cities bidding to stage global sporting events, businesses directly or indirectly related to the sporting world came together in Saint-Petersburg to discuss, forge or strengthen special relationships. Conferences, official meetings and the SportAccord General Assembly were at the center of the many activities on the agenda of the convention participants.
FISU SG/CEO Saintrond and 1st VP Matytsin welcome Minister Mutko and State Secretary Parshikova at the FISU Booth
The SportAccord Convention was also an opportunity for FISU to welcome at its information booth it shared with Almaty, host city of the 2017 Winter Universiade, the decision makers of the international sports world. Therefore an important FISU delegation was present in Saint-Petersburg: President Claude-Louis Gallien, First Vice-President Oleg Matysin, Assessor David Cabello and FISU Directors Paulo Ferreira (World University Championships), Milan Augustin (Winter Universiade), Marc Vandenplas (Summer Universiade), Vanessa Aiello (Marketing) and Dejan Susovic (Media & Broadcasting). On Thursday morning, a press conference set up by our partner Eurosport, allowed Secretary-General/CEO Eric Saintrond to present FISU and the upcoming Universiade in Kazan to the media present. Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko and State-Secretary and Deputy Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Natalia Parshikova honoured our federation with a visit of the FISU booth.
Gwangju OC SG Kim and Gwangju Mayor Kang Un-tae at the FISU Booth
Besides the FISU booth, some of our host cities or candidates – Gwangju (2015 SU), Kazan (2013 SU) and Krasnoyarsk (Candidate 2019 WU) – had their own booth which also drained the attention of many participants during a week that has confirmed the increased popularity of international university sport.
(Source: Marc Vandenplas, Summer Universiade Director)