Opening Ceremony of the EWC 2011
Large crowds of people gathered in the main venue of the European Weightlifting Championships 2011 in Kazan, Russia for the Opening Ceremony with the view to witness further on the major weightlifting show of the year.
Ildar Khalikov, Prime-minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, expressed gratitude in his welcoming addresses for the honor to stage the top rank events. “We will conduct the European Weightlifting Championships on the top level, – he promised. – Tatarstan has good weightlifting traditions and rich potential. A number of merited weightlifters had been born here; Olympic Champions Arkady Vorobjev, Alexander Kurynov and Nicolay Kolesnikov are among them.”
Besides the Minister of Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan Mr Rafis Burganov, the Executive director of the Russian Olympic committee Mr. Marat Bariev also attended the Opening Ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championships 2011.
According to Sergey Syrtsov, Russian Weightlifting Federation President, European Championships in Kazan is a milestone for the Russian weightlifting.
“We are happy, that international level weightlifting is back to Russia, – he noted in particular, – Russia is known for the rich weightlifting history, and it is quite remarkable, that it is Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, to stage this significant sport forum. I wish fans witness the great sport show, competitors take heavy weights and referees enjoy the principal officiating”.