WINTER UNIVERSIADE GAMES
ANKARA - The 25th Winter Universiade Games will kick off in Turkey's eastern Erzurum province on Thursday.
Winter Universiade Games will start with a great opening ceremony at Cemal Gursel Stadium at 7:30 p.m..
Turkish dance group, Anadolu Atesi (Fire of Anatolia), will perform shows at the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. TV channels will broadcast the opening ceremony live to world wide audiences.
Turkish athlete Sabahattin Oglago, who will compete in the men's cross-country skiing, will carry Turkish flag in the ceremony.
The games will host nearly 3,000 sportsmen from 57 countries who will compete in a total of 11 branches; Alpine skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, curling, ski jumping, cross country, Nordic combined, snowboard, freestyle skiing, figure skating and short track.
Turkey will participate in the games with 152 athletes.
Officials said that the facilities built for Universiade 2011 constituted the biggest sports investment Turkey had made for a single sports event up until today, stating that construction of the venues had cost nearly 600 million Turkish liras (TL).
Erzurum 2011 Winter Universiade Games will end on February 6.
The next Universiade Games will take place in Maribor city of Slovenia in 2013.
