The awarding ceremony of the results of the Tatarstan Higher Education Institutions Spartakiade began with Rafis Burganov, Rector of the Volga Region University of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, meeting with the university's swimming team at the Aquatics Palace. The university's team won the competition.
But medals and letters of thanks weren't the main reason for Rector's meeting with the athletes. On November 25, the Russian Swimming Championship and the Friendship Games international competition came to an end. Athletes from 22 countries took part in the Games. Russia was represented by 933 athletes. The Republic of Tatarstan's honour was represented by 59 athletes, 16 of them were students of the Volga Region University of Sports. Two more students of the university represented other regions of Russia. A total of 18 athletes from our university took part in the competitions.
During the competition days, students of Tatarstan's sports universities achieved good results: 5 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals (in total 9 medals).
Many of them set personal records, and second year student Alexey Fedoseyev completed the standards of the Master of Sport of Russia.
Welcoming the students, the university's rector said that thanks to the 2013 Summer Universiade the university received a huge legacy and now students have an opportunity to study in excellent conditions.
"Today not every sports university in the world has such facilities as ours. You all learn new programmes, you see world champions every day and you can always learn from them. Take advantage of this opportunity," said Rafis Burganov.
According to the Rector of the sports university, the university graduates are the best coaches. He expressed hope that each of them will find their vocation.
"Your experience is invaluable. An athlete is much more in demand if he works as a coach. It is a very necessary job. You will not just train athletes. You will be training, above all, patriots of your country," the rector said.
In response, Irina Zlobina, a fourth-year student of Volga Region University, Master of Sport of Russia, silver medallist of the World Cup, two-time champion of Russia, winner of the Friendship Games international competitions, winner of the Russian Cup, champion of Russia, five-time winner of Russian Championships in short water, five-time winner of the All-Russian Summer Universiade, multiple winner of PFA and RT Championships, on behalf of the entire team thanked Rafis Burganov for creating the conditions for students.
