Russian vice premier: CIS Games demonstrate unity, friendship of participating states

“In modern conditions, the CIS Games can be considered as the most important stage of popularizing physical education and sports movement, and involving the younger generation in doing sports. The competitions demonstrate unity and strong friendship between our countries,” Dmitry Chernyshenko emphasized.

According to him, more than 400 Russian athletes, including both leaders of their national teams and talented young athletes, are to take part in the 2nd CIS Games. They will compete not only with rivals from the CIS countries, but also with teams from other countries participating in the Games - Iran, Egypt, Malaysia, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Cuba. “I wish all athletes a fair competition and great victories, and also positive impressions to fans,” the Russian deputy prime minister added.

According to the press service, Russian Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin is expected to take part in the opening ceremony of the Games at Minsk Arena on 5 August.

“The 1st CIS Games held in Russia were a huge success. We have introduced a new interesting format of competitions, including Olympic, non-Olympic and national sports, and the wide interest of many countries made it possible for the 2nd CIS Games to become open to all. I have no doubt that our Belarusian colleagues will be a great host of the Games. Our task is to give all athletes equal opportunities to compete, which in turn helps increase the interest in competitions. It is with great pleasure that we pass the Games baton to our Belarusian counterparts and look forward to this great sports festival,” Oleg Matytsin said.