11th Winter Spartakiada Games kick off in Ufa
RELEASE
Release
A festive opening of the 11th Winter Spartakiada Games took place today at the Ufa Arena sports and concert center in Ufa. Attending the ceremony were Valery Golubev, Management Committee Deputy Chairman, Elena Kasyan, Department Head, Gazprom; Rustem Mardanov, Prime Minister of the Bashkortostan Republic and Shamil Sharipov, Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Ufa.
26 adult and 10 children's teams will take part in the competition. They represent 26 subsidiaries of Gazprom from Russia, Republic of Belarus and, for the first time, from the Republic of Armenia. The Spartakiada Games will last seven days and close on February 18.
26 teams from Gazprom’s subsidiaries come on stage of Ufa Arena to welcome each other
There will be 138 sets of medals up for grabs in six sports: skiing, basketball, volleyball, mini-football, table tennis and shooting. The week-long event will take place in eight different venues of Ufa.
Gazprom Transgaz Ufa will be the host of the Gazprom Spartakiada Games for the first time.
Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, sent a message of greetings to the participants and guests of the Spartakiada Games. “It is especially pleasing to note that our competitions go beyond the boundaries of just a corporate event. As part of the Spartakiada Games, an open regional ski festival will be held for physically challenged children. This obviously demonstrates that sports is open to everyone and that persistence and faith in a dream are able to overcome any obstacles,” the message runs.
Background
Gazprom has annually held Winter and Summer Spartakiada Games since 1996. The events take place in the regions of the Company's operations. The persons entitled to participate in the Spartakiada Games are employees of Gazprom's subsidiaries and organizations, as well as children active in sports clubs of Gazprom's subsidiaries and organizations. Members of Russian national teams, participants of zonal competitions, national official events and championships, European and global events and championships as well as Olympic Games are not permitted to take part in the competitions. The main goals of Gazprom's Spartakiada Games are promoting a healthy lifestyle, sharing the experience in physical training and mass sports as well as maintaining sports traditions.