Almaty, Kazakhstan – The 2nd Asian University Futsal Championship kicked off in the Apple Town--Almaty.
The championship attracted 8 teams from 7 countries, namely China, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kyrgyzstan, and 2 teams from the host Kazakhstan. The total number of the participants reached 127.
On April 23rd, the grand opening was held in the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace, which also served as the venue of the games. First of all, professional acrobats and some young Kazakhstan football freestylers feasted the audiences’ eyes with marvelous performances, then with the Kazakh folk-rock music, all the participating teams marched in in the alphabetic order, enlightening the enthusiasm for futsal and university sports.
Mr. Kuandik LEKEROV, Advisor of the Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan, greeted all the participants and wished them a pleasant stay in Almaty. He hoped that all the athletes could achieve the best and made friends during nest 4 days. On behalf of the ministry and the Kazak government, he affirmed the support for Asian university sports movement and wished the championship a big success.
Mr. HA Woong Yong, AUSF EC member and representative to the championship, appreciated Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science and Kazakhstan University Sports Federation for holding the championship. He mentioned AUSF could not have been so successful without the generous support from the members, and Kazakhstan is the leading model among central Asian countries.
Mr. Kairat ZAKIRYANOV, FISU assessor, AUSF EC member as well as the President of the Kazakhstan University Sports Federation, expressed his heartfelt thanks for the chance to host Asian university championship again in Kazakhstan, and he wished good luck to all teams. Then he declared the opening of the 2nd Asian University Futsal Championship.
At the end of the opening ceremony, the spirit squads performed a cheerleading show, bringing the ceremony to the climax.
4 excellent matches were presented with the following scores:
Mongolia vs. China – 3:5
Kazakhstan National team vs. Tajikistan – 4:3
Kazakhstan Dostyk team vs. Turkmenistan – 4:3
Iran vs. Kyrgyzstan – 19:1.
For more information,please keep on focusing on www.ausf.org.
(source: AUSF Secretariat )