Tatarstan President bestows awards upon high officials. Part 7

At the beginning of the meeting, participants were shown a short film about the Kazan Universiade, which included footage featuring the preparations for the event, the grand opening, competition highlights and the spectacular closing.

"I felt some sadness after watching this film," Tatarstan President said in his welcome speech. "We all together - the whole country, the federal leadership, the Government, the republic, our local authorities - were able to host an epic world-scale event." Rustam Minnikhanov said that there were two sides of the the preparations for the World University Summer Games: the visible one connected with the construction, infrastructure, events, and the invisible one, which ensured the Games well-being and safety. The Russian President, the Prime Minister and the FISU President highly commended the Games in Kazan.

"We had a great collaboration. It was not easy as we did most of the things for the first time. Five years of the preparations for the Games were like five years of studying at the university. During this time we were able to train a huge number of managers, judges and other professionals. The Kazan Universiade was a dress rehearsal for the Winter Olympic Games. I do hope that the Sochi Olympics will also be held as flawlessly and smoothly as the Universiade," Minnikhanov added and stressed that sporting events of this scale are a great opportunity to show the country's power, the unity of all its peoples and subjects.

In his speech, the President admitted that he's been living in anticipation of July 6 - the day of the Universiade opening. And his greatest fear was that during the ceremony, in presence of the President of Russia, the Universiade Cauldron will fail to work. "And of course, after that we were all waiting for the morning of July 18. And after July 18 there was nothing but exhaustion. I don't know if we'll have another such event but I think that the this Universiade was a great event in the life of each of us, in the life of the whole country. Because the World University Games returned to our country after 40 years," said Rustam Minnikhanov. He added that after staging the successful Summer Universiade, the country got a wonderful legacy, experience and recognition of the global community.

Medals for a significant contribution to the preparation and staging of the Summer Universiade in Kazan were bestowed upon Deputy Head of the Presidential Directorate for Supporting Activities of the State Council of the Russian Federation Aleksey Kulakovsky and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation Nelli Naygovzina. Medals for organising a series of measures to ensure the safety of facilities which are subject to state protection in the build-up to and during the 27th Summer Universiade 2013 in Kazan were handed to Deputy Head of the Protection Directorate of the Presidential Security Service of the Russian Federation Colonel Aleksey Kabakov, Deputy Head of the Directorate for Planning and Organising Guarding Measures Colonel Konstantin Kalinin, Deputy Head of the Office of the Directorate for Planning and Organising Guarding Measures Colonel Konstantin Kolyvagin, Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Colonel-General Aleksandr Lashchuk.

Letters of gratitude signed by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan were also handed to State Secretary of State and Deputy Minister of Sports of Russia (Secretary of the Organising Committee) Natalia Parshikova, Chief Adviser to the Department of Social Development of the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Chernikov, Deputy Director of the Department of Normative and Legal Groundwork for the State Policy of the of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation Vladimir Matlashevsky and other representatives of federal ministries and departments.

Having received the republican award from the President of Tatarstan, Aleksey Kulakosky stressed that the Republic of Tatarstan made ​​the impossible possible as it staged the best World University Summer Games ever imaginable. "You have done the impossible - you held the Universiade, which is better than that in Shenzhen in all respects. It's very difficult to compete with China these days, but you showed how it can be done," he said.