MINSK, 29 March (BelTA) – The delegates of the European National Olympic Committees have praised the level of preparedness for the European Games MINSK 2019, director of the Second European Games 2019 Directorate Georgy Katulin told the media following a two-day visit of the European NOC representatives to Minsk on 29 March, BelTA has learned.
The guests gave a thumbs-up to the sports infrastructure in the Belarusian capital and were impressed with the amount of work done. “The experts pointed to a great progress in preparations for the upcoming Games over the past year. The opinion of these people is very important for our directorate as they clearly understand what conditions should be provided for the athletes,” Georgy Katulin said.
There is a lot of work ahead, he added. For instance, it is necessary to ensure the smooth operation of the transport system during the European Games MINSK 2019. “In June 2019, over 150 buses and around 300 cars will be deployed during the competitions. Such a stable traffic flow should cause no delays. We also need to redecorate some buildings in the Athletes' Village, sort out several minor issues, and keep close control over nutrition which must be meeting the European standards,” Georgy Katulin underlined.
Makis Asimakopoulos, sport consultant of the European Olympic Committees, stressed the need to properly use human resources ahead of the European Games MINSK 2019. “The number of personnel in the directorate has been growing. They do their job well. Their expertise and skills have to be properly used to organize a big sports forum. The European NOC delegates were satisfied with the visit. They praised the Athletes' Village as well-located and compact. The guests had no significant remarks for the organizing committee,” Makis Asimakopoulos highlighted.
“I will come back to Bucharest with exhaustive information on preparations for the 2019 sports forum in the Belarusian capital. We have visited many facilities, and I would not like to point out any of them because each one is ready to host competitions in the nearest future. I believe that our athletes will find them comfortable in June 2019,” said Florin Misca, Deputy General Secretary at Romania's NOC.
The guests were also impressed with the number of billboards advertising the upcoming high-profile sports event on Minsk streets.
The visit of NOC representatives is the first of the three trips scheduled as part of preparations for the European Games MINSK 2019. Representatives of the participating countries will be able to learn more about the progress in preparations for the event in July and December 2017.
The European Games will feature 15 sports: badminton, 3x3 basketball, boxing, wrestling(freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, women's wrestling), cycling (track cycling and road bicycle racing), gymnastics (artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatics, aerobics, and trampoline), rowing (kayak and canoe competitions), judo, karate, track and field athletics, sambo, archery, shooting (including clay target shooting), table tennis, and beach football. 206 medal events will be held in 23 sport disciplines. There will be 12 sports venues.
It is expected that the European Games will be attended by about 4,000 athletes, 2,000 coaches and other representatives of official delegations from 50 European national Olympic committees. Besides, Belarus will welcome about 650 international and 410 national sports judges, about 1,000 representatives of foreign mass media, heads of European sports federations and agencies, workers of the EOC headquarters, heads of European NOCs, high-rankling officials from a number of countries.
