Vitebsk to host National Athletics Student Games May 14

VITEBSK, May 13 (BelTA) – More than 300 athletes will take part in the National Athletics Student Games which will open in the Vitebsk Central Sports Centre on May 14, BelTA learnt from Yuri Nedosekov, state coach of the national athletics team in the Vitebsk oblast. Within three days, teams of twenty-three universities of the country will compete in more than twenty-three sports. Among them will be some strong athletes including participants of Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing Maria Smolyachkova (hammer throwing) and Yekaterina Poplavskaya (long jump). According to the results of the Vitebsk tournament, specialists will set up the Belarusian national team for participation in the World Student Games which will be held in Serbian Belgrade this summer. An anti-doping control will be executed for the first time during the Vitebsk competitions. Experts of the Belarus National Anti-Doping Agency have already arrived in Vitebsk. Vitebsk has not hosted such competitions since 1986 as there was a lack of special infrastructure, Yuri Nedosekov noted. More than Br120 million has been invested recently in new equipment and athletics infrastructure in the region.

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