I.Metshin: "The World Aquatics Championships is our big new exam"

(Kazan, KZN.RU, July 3, by Albert Safiullin). A city headquarters for preparations for the 16th World Aquatics Championships of 2015 and the 16th World Masters Aquatics Championships has been created in Kazan. In today's first working meeting, chaired by the mayor of the capital of Tatarstan Ilsur Metshin and held in the Executive Committee building, issues related to the accommodation of and catering for the participants as well as street decoration were discussed.

"Hosting the tournament is a big new challenge to be met at a level worthy of the Republic of Tatarstan and Russia. In terms of audience interest, the World Aquatics Championships is second only to the World Cup and the Summer Olympics. This competition has never been held in our country, hence successful hosting of this global sporting event is a chance to demonstrate ourselves on the international arena and to show the world the face of the new Russia. For this reason, just like during Universiade preparations, a city headquarters meeting on a regular basis has been established, which will act along with the federal Organizing Committee and Tatarstan headquarters. It will be primarily concerned with city services," Ilsur Metshin said opening the meeting.

More than 2,400 athletes and 1,800 members of official delegations from 180 countries are expected to attend. In addition, for the first time in the history of the championships, a Masters competition for some 6,000 old-timers will be held in Kazan in parallel with the main event. According to preliminary estimates, the TV audience of the championship will amount to 4.5 billion viewers.