EUC Coimbra 2017 officially opened

The European Universities Championships Judo, Karate and Taekwondo 2017 were officially opened after the Opening Ceremony held in the Football Field of the Universitary Stadium in Coimbra, this afternoon.

 

The ceremony started with the athletes parade, organized by country in alphabetic order, besides Portugal who as host was the last country on the parade. The parade was followed by the Portuguese national anthem and a dance act performed by the dance group DNA.

 

Afterwards the organizing entities spoke. Firstly spoke Coimbra’s University Dean, João Gabriel Silva, followed by Daniel Monteiro, President of the Portuguese Universities Sports Federation (FADU). The Portuguese Minister of Education, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, followed and EUSA Executive Committee representative Dimitri Kisilev finished welcoming all participants and wishing all the teams and participants who came to test their skills and abilities great competitions and all the best. He also thanked the Organizing Committee for all their contributions.

 

After this moment, Rui Bragança, the Portuguese Olympic Athlete from Taekwondo who will compete in EUC Taekwondo 2017, and Luka Celan, Karate’s referee, sweared oath to this Championships.

 

The ceremony closed with a promotional video of next year’s European University Games Coimbra 2018 and with the musical act of Estudantina, the students musical group from Coimbra’s University, who also performed the EUSA anthem.

 

The competition is organized by Coimbra’s University and its Sports Department with contribution of the Portuguese Universities Sports Federation (FADU) and Coimbra’s Academic Association (AAC).

 

The European Universities Championships 2017 (Judo, Karate and Taekwondo) started this morning in Coimbra, Portugal, and will happen until the 27th July. This is one of the 19 European Universities Championships 2017 (EUC 2017), where 19 different sports promote the competition to find the best European athletes and teams in Universities Sport.

 

The competition will happen in Pavillion 1 (Karate), 2 (Taekwondo) and 3 (Judo) of Coimbra’s University Sport Complex, in the city centre. The venues were renewed in the last months and are ready to receive the about 600 athletes that will compete in these Championships. The EUC 2017 (Judo, Karate and Taekwondo) will also have about 150 officials and will have both male and female competition. 50 volunteers will also be key to the success of the event.

 

The Judo competition will host 195 athletes from as many as 103 Universities from 18 countries. While Karate will host 220 athletes from as many as 108 Universities from 21 countries. Taekwondo competition will host 157 athletes from as many as 83 Universities from 14 countries.