Opinions & Interviews

In Belarus there are a number of sports facilities which construction is nearing completion. Among them is the Dinamo Stadium in Minsk, the Ice Palace in Shklov, a roller ski track in Gorodok and many others. According to the minister, the abovementioned facilities will allow the country host big companies in an almost non-stop regime.

“We have a lot of international sports events scheduled for 2016 and subsequent years. In 2015 the country hosted about 40 sports events, including international meetings, world and European championships. The European Rapid and Blitz Championships will kick off in Belarus tomorrow. We will start the next year with an international Christmas tournament. The ISU European Speed Skating Championships and many other tournaments will make up the country's sports program of the coming year. A total of more than 80 big international events are planned for 2016. The 2014 IIHF World Championship gave an impetus to all these trends. The head of the Belarusian Athletics Federation is currently in Switzerland talking over possible organization of the championship in our country,” Alexander Shamko added.

In his words, such an active sport life fulfills another important task. “The hosting of championships and international sports events is not just the country's image position and sports development efforts. It is also a social factor, which is sports popularization in the country. The major goal here is to attract as many young people in sport as possible,” the minister said. He added that the construction of new facilities would not effect the operation of the existing sports complexes.