SportAccord On Track with Multisports Games

(ATR) SportAccord director general Vlad Marinescu tells Around the Rings that the organization is on schedule to deliver its series of multisports events in the coming years.

Since the SportAccord Convention in St. Petersburg last year, there have been few details released about developments for the first World Urban Games, originally envisaged for 2015.

Skateboarding and 3x3 basketball were among a raft of potential sports events under consideration. Trials, billed by the International Cycling Union as one of its "most exciting and spectacular" disciplines, was also a possibility.

The concepts and sports programs of the Beach Games, earmarked for Brazil next year, and Artistic Games destined for a Central American country were also being worked on.

Marinescu confirmed that none of the multisports games had been scrapped.

"We are on the way with all of them," he told ATR.

"We are working to achieve the success of these projects," he said, adding that SportAccord was working well with IFs to deliver the events.

Marinescu and SportAccord president Marius Vizer will present a status report to the general assembly at the international sports convention of the same name taking place in Belek, Turkey next month.

The report will update SportAccord members on the concepts for each of its multisports games, which also include the Combat and Mind Games. Following consultation with IFs over the past year, details on where they fit in the calendar and "specifics for each of them" – likely to include sports programs and host cities – will form part of the updates.

Commenting on the SportAccord Convention, he said it would be the biggest yet, with the two official hotels now sold out.

Marinescu indicated that Turkey’s decision to block Twitter following its use to expose possible government corruption was unlikely to have any impact on conference operations and reporting of the event, which is less than two weeks away.

"We are making the strongest efforts to find a solution in order to be able to activate Twitter communications," he said.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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