Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The 27th World Summer Universiade kicked off in the capital of Tatarstan, Russia, on July 6-17.

Azerbaijani flag was raised in the Universiade's village on July 4, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Youth and Sports reported.

The ceremony was attended by officials of the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Azerbaijan, the International University Sports Federation (FISU), Student Sports Association "Genjlik" and Tatarstan.

Azerbaijan is represented at the university in a large format. Some of our athletes are already in Kazan. Another group will go to the Universiade upcoming days.

The 27th World Summer Universiade-2013 in Kazan will be the first Universiade, and in fact the first multi-sport event in the history of modern Russia.

Kazan received in 2008 the overwhelming 20 votes out of 27 possible of the members of the Executive Committee of FISU to host the Summer Universiade-2013.

The Universiade is an International multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a combination of the words "University" and "olympiad".

The first official World Student Games were organised in 1924 and were held under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) from 1949. An alternative event was organised by the Union Internationale des Étudiants (UIE) from 1947-1962, including one unofficial Games in 1954.