7SWGPS 2018 kicked off in Kazan
The official opening ceremony of the Rugby Europe Women’s Sevens Grand Prix Series took place at the Central Stadium. Head of FAS and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Rugby Union of Russia, Igor Artemyev, Prime Minister of Tatarstan, Aleksey Pesoshin, Russian Federation State Duma Deputy and Russian Olympic Committee Member, Marat Bariev, and Tournament Director Veceslav Holjevac participated in the ceremony.
The tournament features about 180 athletes representing twelve teams from Europe. Team Russia is the reigning European champion. Last year the Russians won both legs of the Rugby Europe Women’s Sevens Grand Prix Series and claimed the trophy. Igor Artemyev expressed his hope that the Russian powerhouse could defend the title this year. “On behalf of the Rugby Union of Russia, let me welcome all the twelve participating teams. I’d like to heartedly thank President and Government of Tatarstan, all the sponsors, volunteers and those who help us to organise this nice event. We arrive in Kazan as if it were our home. Last year the players of our national team became the European champions here. Obviously, we hope the result will repeat itself. We greatly respect all the participants of the competition, nice girls and excellent athletes. We wish them victory, fair play and no injury. We cheer not only for the result, but for our youth to do sports and build our future”, underlined Artemyev.
Aleksey Pesoshin noted that the Rugby Europe Women’s Sevens Grand Prix Series had long become traditional for Kazan. “Kazan loves and can host big tournaments. We held the 2013 Summer Universiade, the FINAWorld Championships 2015, the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. We are glad to welcome twelve strongest teams of Europe for this tournament. Hopefully, Kazan will host these competitions for more times”, Prime Minister of Tatarstan declared.
“It is interesting to know that the tournament kicks off on September 1, on the Knowledge Day, which is a big day in Russia. We see that the athletes are full of energy proving that the youth can grow up and develop in our country. Many thanks to the establishment of Tatarstan and sports-related organisations of the republic for the fact that Seven-a-side rugby finds its permanent residence in Kazan. I’m sure, rugby players will contribute to upcoming victories for Team Russia in the international arena”, Marat Bariev added.
Besides, the honoured guests awarded the Energiya rugby club players and coaches with the gratitude letters from the Cabinet of Ministers of Tatarstan. The Kazan athletes as part of Team Russia became the European beach rugby champions. Awarded were Artyom Karamyshev, Stepan Korolev, Karim Manikov, Ruslan Mukkhutdinov, Alexander Tikhonov, Anton Kometov and Milyausha Timerbaeva, and coaches Pavel Kalashkin, Islam Garifullin and Valeriy Nosov.