I.Metshin: "Kazan should be at the forefront in meeting GTO standards"

(Kazan, KZN.RU, October 13, by Adelya Galieva). The citywide games "Sporting Kazan", held last Saturday, were attended by about 300 employees of the Executive Committee, said Ilgiz Fakhriev, chairman of the Committee of Physical Culture and Sports of the Executive Committee of Kazan, commenting on the results of the games at today's Business Monday meeting.

The Executive Committee chairman reminded that "Sporting Kazan" is  mass-participation competitions among municipal service workers and "Friends" teams, which have been held in the city since 2011. The tournament includes eight sports and games: volleyball, mini-football, swimming, skiing, table tennis, badminton, athletics and cycling.

"Last Saturday, cycling and athletics competitions, a family relay 'Dad, Mom and I are a Sports-Loving Family' and a trial taking of GTO tests were held at the "Trudovye Reservy" stadium. More than 300 municipal employees and their families competed," said Ilgiz Fakhriev and congratulated the winners of the cycling and athletics competitions.

"Trial GTO tests were arranged for healthy lifestyle fans, and anyone wishing to test his/her level of physical fitness could attempt to meet the standards for their age group that included pull-ups, push-ups, forward bends, lifting trunk from a supine position, jumping, leaping, weight lifting and electronic target shooting," said the speaker, noting that the games were highly popular with both competitors and their families. Ilgiz Fakhriev noted that the games record was set by the head of the Executive Committee of Kazan, Denis Kalinkin, who lifted a 16 kg kettlebell 100 times in five minutes.

Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin said that he had received rave reviews of the games from the participants and their families. "This clearly shows that it was not in vain that we revived the games: the number of participants and healthy sporting rivalry between department teams keeps growing, which improves corporate spirit. A healthy mind in a healthy body!" concluded the mayor.

The mayor also pointed out that the city was making headway in meeting GTO norms. "Kazan should be at the forefront in meeting the standards," said Ilsur Metshin. According to the head of the city, the most important thing about GTO tests was not the number of push-ups attained, but involving a maximum number of industry, university and business participants.

The mayor of the city said that this year, students and all employees of the Kazan Executive Committee should take GTO tests. "The sportiest Executive Committee of the Republic should be in Kazan; we are the sports capital, after all!" concluded Ilsur Metshin.