Sports capital international basketball tournament kicks off in Kazan
First games of the Sports Capital International U15 Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament were played today at the KAI OLIMP Cultural and Sports Complex on 26 March.
The tournament is held in memory of Tatarstan Basketball Federation President Gennady Vetrov, an outstanding sports and physical culture figure, who contributed a lot into development of youth and student basketball in the Republic.
The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Member of the Russian Federation State Duma Committee for Physical Culture, Sport and Youth Affairs Marat Bariev, First Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan Khalil Shaikhutdinov, Vice-President of the Tatarstan Basketball Federation Irina Vetrova, Tatarstan Prime-Minister Adviser Andrey Kondratyev, Chairwoman of the Physical Culture and Sports Committee of the Kazan Executive Committee Svetlana Ostrikova, teacher of the youth sports schools UNICS JUNIOR, honorable judge of the USSR, honored coach, merited coach of the Russian Federation Igor Pozdnyak.
"Today we open the first Sports Capital tournament, and I hope it will become an annual event, dedicated to our friend, professional, and basketball lover," admitted Marat Bariev during the ceremony. "Gennady Evgenievich did a lot to enhance his favorite sport by organising various basketball tournaments not only in Tatarstan, but in other regions as well. He contributed to development of kid's recreation: not only athletes but all children from Tatarstan. I want to thank our participants who responded to invitation of the organizers and payed tribute to him."
Kazan brought together teams from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Moscow region, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Kursk, Republic of Tatarstan, as well as a team from Kazakhstan and a team from Estonia. The tournament will last until 30 March.