The competitions started in the city of Krasnoyarsk as part of the 29th World Winter Universiade that will take place from 2 to 12 March. The key theme of the Universiade opening ceremony is the unique culture of Siberia.
About 3 000 people from 59 countries of the world will take part in the world sports fest. The most numerous is the Russian delegation – 490 people among whom 295 are athletes. Canada (121 delegate, 87 athletes), China (165, 80), Czech Republic (131, 83), Japan (147, 93), Switzerland (143, 99) and the USA (125, 83) have also delegated large teams. For the first time athletes from Nepal, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines will take part in the World Universiade.
Participants will play out 76 sets of awards in 11 sports: biathlon, alpine skiing, curling, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, ice hockey, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, bandy and ski orienteering.