12 March, Vitebsk /BELTA/. The first stage of the XI Spartakiad of the Union State for Children and Youth (Spartakiad of Student Youth) starts today in Novopolotsk, as reported to BELTA by the Standing Committee of the Union State.
Around 200 athletes – students of Belarusian and Russian universities – will arrive in Novopolotsk to compete in swimming, cross-country skiing, and table tennis. Belarus will be represented at the Spartakiad by athletes from Belarusian State University, Belarusian National Technical University, A. Pushkin Brest State University, F. Skorina Gomel State University, Belarusian State University of Transport, A. Kuleshov Mogilev State University, P. Masherov Vitebsk State University, and Y. Kupala Grodno State University. The winners of the competitions, which conclude on 16 March, will be awarded medals, cups, and valuable prizes. To help students from the two friendly states get to know each other better, joint excursions, discos, and ice skating sessions are planned.
The next stages of the Union State Spartakiad will be held in Ryazan, Molodechno, and Smolensk. "Holding such a large-scale event as the Spartakiad within the framework of the Union State contributes to the implementation of the main goals of the Union State in the area of social policy, including the development of youth physical culture and sports movement and the civic-patriotic education of the younger generation," the Standing Committee is confident.
The first youth Spartakiad was held in 2002 in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Union State and is held annually at the expense of the union budget. Over 130 million Russian rubles have been allocated for the Spartakiad in 2002-2012.
The organizers of the Spartakiad are the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. -0-