MINSK, 7 June (BelTA) – More Belarusians have started doing sport over the past five years, First Deputy Sports and Tourism Minister of Belarus, Chairman of the CIS Council on Physical Education and Sports Vyacheslav Durnov told BelTA. The council is holding its meeting in Minsk on 7-8 June.
“According to the statistical data, the number of Belarusians doing sport has increased by 5% over the past five years. Some 22% of the population consider themselves being in a good form. These are great figures if we take into account that there are also minors and elderly people. This means that the major part of the population does sport,” Vyacheslav Durnov said. In his words, it has been achieved thanks to sport popularization. The construction of sports facilities, including open sports grounds in all the Belarusian regions, has played its important part as well.
The first deputy minister added that the agenda of the meeting of the CIS Council on Physical Education and Sports will include efforts to make a healthy lifestyle popular among people. Every country has its approach to encourage mass sports. This knowledge might be interesting for adoption. The meeting participants will talk over the safety of sports events, the development of sports and recreational activities among rural dwellers, the availability of sports facilities, and will also discuss the training of young coaching staff.
In his opening remarks, Belarus' Sport and Tourism Minister Alexander Shamko noted the importance of sport in any country. “In the modern world sport is part of state policy. Fairness and honesty, the principles that the sport was built on originally, often fall victim to intrigues. We need to be better and stronger of many and prove this in international competitions,” he said.
