Second SportAccord World Combat Games in Russia

From June 11th to 15th representatives of international sports association SportAccord paid official visit to the capital of the Second World Combat Games, St. Petersburg. Allow us to remind you that the organization of the Second World Combat Games in Russia has been made possible by initiative of the FIAS President Vasily Shestakov and support of the RMAU (Russian Martial Arts Union) leadership represented by Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Yuri Trutnev, who holds 5th dan in kyokushin kaikan, and Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom" Sergey Kirienko (3rd dan in Aikikai Aikido). At the time the idea was actively supported by the Government of Russia and St. Petersburg Administration. During the visit to St. Petersburg in March of 2011 of SportAccord technical committee, headed by its President Hein Verbruggen, it was confirmed that the city was ready to host such a major sports event. The exchange of signed contracts that delegated the rights of hosting Games in St. Petersburg took place in April of 2011 during the SportAccord General Assembly (London, Great Britain) in the presence of the representatives of the IOC, leaders of international sports federations and international media. SportAccord World Combat Games is unique multidisciplinary event, which includes not only competitions, but also broad cultural and business programs. We would like to point out that in addition to World Combat Games SportAccord also organizes World Mind Games and World Beach Games, confirming interest and popularity of these sports events among youth, media and sponsors. The Second World Combat Games will take place in St. Petersburg from October 18th to 27th, 2013. It is expected that some 2000 athletes from 120 countries of the world will participate. The competition will be held at five sports venues in 15 Olympic and non-Olympic sports disciplines: aikido, boxing, judo, ju-jitsu, karate, kendo, kick-boxing, fencing, muay thai, sambo, sumo, taekwondo, wrestling, wushu, savate. During their visit to St. Petersburg SportAccord Director of Multispoprt Games Michal Buchel and the head of the project Federica Nenzi visited sports venues. They held meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy of the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg Administration and the RMAU. The program of the visit included a meeting with the heads of the Local World Combat Games Organizing Committee. SportAccord representatives also held meetings with the leaders of the sports federations, whose athletes will compete at the World Games. At this high-level meeting our Federation has been represented by the FIAS Head of Sports Directorate Sergey Tabakov. Michal Buchel and Federica Nenzi remarked that involving national governing bodies will be a very important step in preparations, since they are the experts in their sports disciplines. The main managing positions within the project include technical committee, Olympic committee, sports committee, and a working group, which will include technical delegates from 15 federations. "It is necessary to highlight the role of national governing bodies of those sports which are included into the World Games program, - stressed Michal Buchel. - Delegates, assigned by each national federation, might be included into the organizing committee. In cooperation with international federations the Russian organizers might explain particularities of organizing events in the country, which would help to reach the high level of organization." In her turn Federica Nenzi said: "We sent queries to each Federation, which participated in the previous edition of the World Combat Games, to learn what we did right the last time, and what could be improved. The feedback line is open: over the course of the last three months we have handled and analyzed recommendations we had received from the international federations to ensure higher level of organization of the Second Games. Clear-cut standard of organization of all SportAccord events facilitate their participants' understating of how the work could be set up." The SportAccord delegation presented General Technical plan for organization and holding of the Games for 2012-2013. The document contains the main tasks and preliminary schedule of their implementation over two years. During the discussion of the plan SportAccord representatives mentioned that the official Opening Ceremony is scheduled for October 18th. Preliminary venue is the Ice Palace, which is a multidisciplinary indoor facility with 12-thousand-capacity, which covers of 37000 sq. m. The Palace was built for the World Ice Hockey Championships, which was held in St. Petersburg in 2000. Its equipment allows not only to organize competitions in dozens of sports disciplines, but also to host major shows, concerts, exhibitions and conferences. The competitive program of the World Combat Games is planned for October 19th - 26th. The preliminary date for the Closing Ceremony is the final day of the Games: October 26th. The qualification for the World Combat Games will be based on athletes' ratings within their sports, taking into account results of international competitions. At the same time the qualification system should allow representatives of all continents to participate.