(Kazan City
KZN.RU, 19 March). Today in Kazan the official opening ceremony of the VI
Russian Federation President's Cup in weightlifting was held. The ceremony was
attended by President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Mayor of Kazan Ilsur
Metshin, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin,
Deputy Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Yuri Nagornykh, Minister of
Youth and Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan Vladimir Leonov, President of
Weightlifting Federation of Russia Sergey Sirtcov and heads of federations of weightlifting
of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia.
The
competition takes place on March 19-20 at the Palace of single combats "Ak
Bars" (Kazan under the auspices of the Weightlifting Federation of Russia
and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). These competitions will
be qualifying in the run-up to the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Cup opening
ceremony began with a minute of silence in memory of those who died March 19,
2016 in a plane crash in Rostov-on-Don.
Assistant to
the President of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin read text of greetings on
behalf of the President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who wished
success to the athletes. On his own behalf, he thanked the leadership of the
Republic of Tatarstan for the excellent organization of the weightlifting
competitions.
Rustam
Minnikhanov, in his turn, stressed that the republic had a tremendous honor to
receive the President's Cup VI Russia in weightlifting, and assured that all
the international competitions will be held at a high level. He also wished the
athletes good luck and success.
The vice-president
of the International Weightlifting Federation, Chairman of the Supervisory
Board of the Weightlifting Federation of Russia Alexander Gerasimenko and CEO
of the International Weightlifting Federation Attila Adamfi greeted the
athletes and spectators. They also noted the high level of competition.
Recall that
40 athletes and 27 team officials from Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czech
Republic, Thailand, Belarus, USA, Canada, Armenia, Serbia came to compete in
Kazan.
Russia is
represented by 14 athletes (6 women and 8 men), including Maria Petrova and
Andrei Demanov from Tatarstan. Athletes are competing in the snatch
weightlifting, the press service of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan
informs.
Weightlifting
Cup established by Presidential Order in 2011 and is held annually in different
cities of the country. The first city who took the competition was Belgorod
(2011), hereinafter - St. Petersburg (2012), Mytishchi (2013), Noyabrsk (2014)
and Grozny (2015).