TATARSTAN: The Russian city of Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, will host the BRICS Games from 11th to 24th June. The international multi-sport event will bring together about 5,000 athletes from the BRICS countries and invited states. Bricsik the leopard has been chosen as the mascot of the Games.
BRICS, a multilateral forum of five nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – made the historic expansion recently with new member states such as the UAE, Iran, Egypt, and Ethiopia.
According to TV BRICS, the Games’ programme will include not only sports competitions and a meeting of BRICS sports ministers, but also a summit of partner ministers. Participants will compete for 380 sets of prizes in Kazan.
Participating countries
In the year of Russia’s chairmanship in BRICS, the large-scale competitions will be held in an open format – the prizes will be given not only to athletes from the BRICS member states, but other participants as well. The list of BRICS Games participants includes more than 50
countries, including Kazakhstan, Turkey, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bahrain, Congo and others.
Commenting about the Games, sports expert Valery Krylov said, ‘The BRICS 2024 Sports Games will definitely go down not only in the history of sports cooperation between the countries of the bloc, but also in the history of international sports development. A summit of ministers and sports officials from the BRICS countries will be held in Kazan on 21st and 22nd June in an open format during the competition. It is possible that Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin will talk about a new format of their organisation and financing among important constructive proposals for further development of the Games.’
Sport events
In 2023, the participants of the Games in South Africa’s Durban competed in only six disciplines: tennis, badminton, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, and sports for people with mobility impairments. Around 450 athletes aged 19 to 21 from South Africa, Russia, China, India and Brazil competed back
then.
In 2024, there will be 29 disciplines. The international competition in Kazan promises to be one of the most unconventional sporting events of the year. Among the traditional disciplines, there will also be unusual ones, emphasising the cultural diversity of the BRICS countries.
The competition programme also includes acrobatic rock and roll, breaking, karate, table tennis, diving, artistic gymnastics, fencing, rhythmic gymnastics, beach volleyball, beach handball, canoeing, badminton, equestrian sport, tennis, basketball, football, boxing, rowing, synchronised swimming, weightlifting, heavy and light athletics, wrestling, and chess.
Sergey Skorokhodov, an expert in Brazilian culture, commented, “One of the features of these Games is that in addition to the traditional Olympic disciplines, the organisers of the event have included acrobatic rock ‘n’ roll, breaking, basketball and football double-header, for example. This points to Russia’s desire to expand the boundaries of sport through integration
with culture, music and art.”
He added, ‘Russia has a great successful experience of organising and hosting major sporting events. Earlier this year, the Future Games were held in Kazan, and the Friendship Games are scheduled for September. The BRICS Games are yet another fact confirming that Russia is a sporting power.’
The host government has already prepared a draft decree on payments to Russian winners and medallists of the BRICS Games. According to the document, gold medal winners will receive 358,400 rubles (US$3028) each, silver medallists – 179,200 rubles (US$1964), and bronze medallists 107,500 rubles (US$1178).
Organisation of Games
In May 2023, Vladimir Putin instructed to submit proposals for the organisation of the BRICS Games. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was put in charge. In September 2023, it became known that the Ministry of Finance allocated 1.29 billion rubles (US$14 138) for the event.
At a forum named “We are together. Sport”, which was held in Moscow in mid-April, the competiti
on venues of the Games were revealed. One of them is in Moscow and 17 are in Kazan.
In Kazan, the venues will be the Central Stadium, Kazan Tennis Academy, Boxing and Table Tennis Centre, Aquatics Palace, “Ak Bars” Wrestling Palace, “B. Rameev IT Park” Technopark for High Technologies, Gymnastics Centre, Rowing Sports Centre, Beach Sports Centre, LDS “Tatneft Arena”, “URAM” Youth Extreme Park, Volleyball Centre, “Kazan Expo”, Badminton Centre, “Tulpar” Sports Complex, and “Burevestnik” Sports Complex.
The closing ceremony of the Games will be held on the national Tatar holiday Sabantui, which will give representatives of foreign countries an opportunity to learn the rich traditions of one of Russia’s regions.
Source: Emirates News Agency