İDMAN.BİZ FROM GERMANY: Universiade - Medal chances of Azerbaijani athletes and organizational aspects

The World University Games held in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany have been rich in events since their start. The day after the opening, Azerbaijani athletes have already switched to competition mode and today there are real chances to win the first medal.

Idman.biz's employee seconded to Germany reports that the main competition venue for teams based in Essen is the "Messe Essen" complex.

Competitions in taekwondo, fencing, table tennis and rhythmic gymnastics are held here early in the morning. The halls are very convenient for both athletes, spectators and journalists - they can easily move from hall to hall and watch various competitions. For example, yesterday started with women's foil and men's sabre competitions, then continued with table tennis and ended with the performances of teams in group exercises in all-around.

Our team, consisting of Laman Alimuradova, Darya Sorokina, Gullu Agalarzade, Elizaveta Luzan and Kamilla Aliyeva, took to the carpet before the last one and scored 24.150 points for the composition with five ribbons. This result allowed our group to take the lead, surpassing the teams of Ukraine, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. The fate of the medals will be determined by the second performance, which will be performed with three balls and two hoops.

In general, the organization of the Universiade is considered satisfactory. But participants of the Universiade held in Chengdu before that recall China with nostalgic feelings - because, according to general opinion, that multi-sports forum even surpassed the Olympic Games held in Paris. Universiades organized in Europe also have their own characteristics - for example, a few years ago, athletes lived on a sea liner at the competitions held in Naples.

The exact number of participants in the Student Games is still unknown. The organizers casually state that the Universiade has gathered more than 9,200 participants from more than 150 countries - this is an absolute record. But the truth of this statement is doubtful - because only 104 delegations attended the opening ceremony. What happened to the remaining 46 countries is still a mystery and we are waiting for a justified answer regarding this.

Zaki Feyzullayev
Idman.biz