20 June 2017, Turin: All eyes in the world of student sport turned to Turin today,
as the torch lighting ceremony of the 29th Summer Universiade Taipei 2017
ignited a flame set to burn until 30 August 2017. The Italian city was chosen in
recognition of its role as host of the first ever Universiade in 1959. The ceremony
was hosted by the University of Turin.
"Each Universiade is of course a special moment in the life of FISU. And we know
our biggest competitions are also very special moments in the lives of the many
thousands of students they touch as athletes, as organisers, as volunteers,
coaches, officials and fans," said FISU President Oleg Matytsin. "With a vision to
shape the leaders of tomorrow through their experiences of international
student sport, the Universiades are the most powerful tool at our disposal. And
in this regard, I am confident that Taipei 2017 will greatly help FISU achieve its
vision."
The ceremony involved lighting the original Turin 1959 torch, which was passed
by Professor Gianmaria Ajani, the Rector of the University of Turin, to President
Matytsin. President Matytsin then passed the flame to a Taipei 2017 torch held
by Ko Wen-je, the Mayor of Taipei. Mayor Ko began the Taipei 2017 relay by
passing the torch to the first runner: Olympic taekwondo champion Chu Mu-yen.
Su Li-chiung, Chief Executive of the Taipei Universiade Organising Committee
(TUOC) also attended as did further sporting champions, students and even one
participant from the 1959 Universiade.
"The Torch Relay for Taipei 2017 links the past, present and future of the
Universiade. As it does so, it is a reminder that we at FISU are stewards of a great
tradition that has served countless leaders around the world: from presidents to
chief executives, from community organisers to even the President of the
International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach. "They have all learned from
their participation in the Universiades," continued President Matytsin. "Like all
rights holders of major international multisport events, FISU is determined - as I
am determined - to do everything to make each edition of the Universiade an
improvement on the last. The bar has been set very high by previous hosts of the
Universiade. I am very pleased about the support that the TUOC and the Taipei
City Government have shown FISU in working to do even better."
Following the lighting in Turin, the Torch Relay will head to Napoli, host of the
2019 Summer Universiade; Thailand’s Bangkok, host of the 2007 Summer
Universiade; and South Korea’s Daegu, host of the 2003 Summer Universiade.
The domestic leg of the Torch Relay will see the flame visit all of the country’s 22
cities and counties. Future editions of the Torch Relay will feature include stops
in all five continents.
Taipei 2017 will involve more than 7,700 student athletes from 153 countries
contesting 21 sports at 38 competition venues in Taipei, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu
County, New Taipei City and Taoyuan City.
For more information:
Contact: Anna Manuelian
Email: anna@jtassocs.com
Telephone: +41 (0) 78 630 6127
The International University Sports Federation – FISU
Founded in 1949, FISU stands for Fédération Internationale du Sport
Universitaire (International University Sports Federation). FISU was formed
within university institutions in order to promote sports values and encourage
sports practice in harmony with and complementary to the university spirit.
Promoting sports values means encouraging friendship, fraternity, fair-play,
perseverance, integrity and cooperation amongst students, who one day may
have responsibilities and even key positions in politics, the economy, culture and
industry.
Open to student-athletes aged between 17 and 25 (for events in 2016 and 2017
the upper age is still 28), FISU’s events consist of Summer and Winter
Universiades and the World University Championships. Universiades are
multisport events staged in odd-numbered years, while the World University
Championships are single-sport events, staged in even-numbered years. Besides
its sporting events, FISU stages educational events, such as the FISU Forum on
University Sport, the FISU World Conference on Development through Sport, the
FISU World Conference on Innovation - Education - Sport, the FISU Sport
Education Summit and the FISU Seminars.
With FISU’s motto being "Excellence in Mind and Body", all events include
educational and cultural aspects, bringing together sport and academia from all
over the world to celebrate in a true spirit of friendship and sportsmanship. FISU
cooperates in developing its events and programmes with all major international
sports and educational organisations. As major outcomes of those collaborations,
in 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) proclaimed the International Day of University Sport to be celebrated
on 20 September, and the Anti-Doping Textbook and teaching materials were
developed with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
FISU is composed of 170 Member Associations (National University Sports
Federations). The FISU General Assembly elects the members of the FISU
Executive Committee, its board of directors. Fourteen permanent committees
advise the Executive Committee in their specialised areas. For the daily
administration of FISU, the FISU Executive Committee relies on the Secretary
General, who is assisted by the FISU staff. FISU’s headquarters are in Lausanne,
Switzerland.
For more information, please contact the FISU Media Dept. at media@fisu.net or
visit our web site at www.fisu.net
Videos YouTube: www.youtube.com/FISUTV
Photos For an extensive selection of photos available shortly after each event,
please follow us on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/fisu_network)
To request archive photos, footage and results, please contact the Media Dept. at
media@fisu.net
Social media For up-to-the-minute information on FISU and regular updates,
please follow us on our social media channels:
Twitter: @FISUnetwork
Facebook: FISU.InternationalUniversitySport
Instagram: http://instagram.com/fisunetwork
As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.
These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.
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