The Republic of Tatarstan and the Central Sports club of the army signed a cooperation agreement
Rustam Minnikhanov said that Tatarstan has extensive experience in the preparation of major international competitions. One of the main organisers of such events is the Directorate of Sports and Social Projects. "Any major international event requires a large team to cover a lot of work. The Directorate of Sports and Social Projects has come a long way, proved itself during the preparation and staging 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, and the FINA World Championships in 2015. Today, the Directorate is working with the organising committee of the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty and the organisers of the 2019 Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk. Now it will be active in the preparation of the CISM World Winter Games. This is a great honour and responsibility for us," highlighted Rustam Minnikhanov.
Nikolay Pankov, in turn, said that Russia will become the "host of the CISM World Winter Games." "Preparing for these competitions is not an easy task, but together with you, with the Directorate, we hope to conduct the CISM World Winter Games at the highest level," said the Deputy Defence Minister of the Russian Federation.
"Preparing for the Games united the legacy and experience of the two largest sporting centres in Russia – Sochi and Kazan. Sochi, as far as venues are concerned, is a city with a multifunctional hub for winter sports, where the infrastructure is already in place for staging large-scale events. The legacy of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi includes real sites, stadiums, sports centres, and professional logistics organisation. The legacy of Kazan includes enormous experience in organising and staging a variety of international sports projects," said the head of CSKA, Colonel Mikhail Baryshev.
After the signing ceremony, Nikolay Pankov also participated in the opening ceremony of the Youth Army GTO Festival, which took place at the IT Lyceum Kazan. It should be noted that well-known CSKA athletes also arrived in Kazan: the First Deputy Head of CSKA and twice Olympic champion in gymnastics Svetlana Khorkina; Lieutenant Colonel; Deputy Head of CSKA and twice Olympic champion in biathlon, Lieutenant Colonel Svetlana Ishmuratova; Olympic champion in athletics, Captain Anna Chicherova; the head of the all-Russian patriotic YUNARMIA movement and Olympic bobsleigh champion, Lieutenant Dmitry Trunenkov; multiple Olympic Games medallist in gymnastics, Maria Paseka; twice Olympic Games bronze medallist in gymnastics Anton Golotsutskov; and silver medallist of the Olympic Games in gymnastics, Ivan Stretovich. They attended sports venues of Kazan and conducted master-classes at the Gymnastics Centre for students of sports schools.
For reference
The 3rd CISM World Winter Games will be held in Sochi from 22 to 28 February, 2017. Support for activity of the Organising Committee is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, and the operator of events is the Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA). The initiator of the competitions at the Olympic venues in Sochi was personally the Defence Minister of the Russian Federation, General of the Army and Hero of Russia, Sergey Shoygu, who is head of the Organising Committee for preparation of the competitions.
To date, the Organising Committee of the CISM World Winter Games has defined the list of venues that will be used for the event. Competitions will be held in the coastal and mountain clusters: the Laura Biathlon and Ski Complex (biathlon, cross-country skiing, orienteering, skiing), Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort (Alpine skiing, ski-mountaineering), Iceberg Skating Palace (short track), and Bolshoy Ice Dome (climbing).
The competitions programme and sports course plans have been officially approved with national sport federations. The federations have also preliminarily approved judge panels and the order of their arrival. The total number of specialists employed for refereeing at the games will be 488 people. In addition, the accommodation programme for the athletes and representatives of delegations of participating countries is currently at an active stage. It is planned to use 4 hotels with a total of 1054 rooms, and 100 vehicles of various types (tourist, municipal, minibuses and cars).
The International Military Sports Council (Conseil International du Sport Militaire – CISM) unites 134 countries and is the largest sports organisation after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International University Sports Federation (FISU). CISM organises many international and regional championships. There are more than 20 world championships annually, and every 4 years, winter and summer world games among the military are staged. The aim of CISM is to promote world peace through uniting the armed forces through sports. CISM's slogan is "Friendship through sport".
The first CISM Winter World Games was held in 2010 in Aosta, Italy. During the second CISM World Winter Games, which took place in 2013 in Annecy, France, nearly 1000 athletes from 40 countries around the world competed in eight sports. The best representatives of national teams, who are also members of the military participated in the competitions, including: Germany's Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle (cross-country skiing), France's Martin Fourcade, Norway's Lars Berger (biathlon), Italy's Arianna Fontana (short track speed skating) and many others.
The decision to stage the 3rd CISM World Winter Games in Russia was taken on 22 May, 2015 at the 70th CISM General Assembly in Kuwait. The presentation for the games in Sochi took place in October 2015 at the 6th CISM Military World Games in South Korea. The Organising Committee of the 3rd CISM World Winter Games 2017 in Sochi was formed in accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 25.12.2015 No. 2695-r. The games will be attended by about 2000 athletes from 40 countries, who will compete for 44 sets of medals in individual and team competitions.
The opening ceremony of the games will take place on 23 February, 2017, and will be timed to coincide with the celebration of Defender of the Fatherland Day.