Kazan thrives as Russia’s sporting capital
Print Edition
INTERSPERSED among minarets and candy-colored church domes, world-class sports venues dot the landscape in Kazan, a Russian cultural hub that has earned a reputation as an international sports capital.
The city of 1.2 million, located some 700 kilometers east of Moscow on the banks of the Volga River, hosted the draw for the 2017 Confederations Cup yesterday, and is something of a Russian sporting mecca.
Kazan, the administrative capital of Russia’s oil-rich, majority-Muslim Tatarstan region, has hosted international and European competitions in weightlifting, ice hockey, figure skating, boxing, swimming and fencing, among a long list of disciplines.
Most memorably, the city hosted the 2013 Summer Universiade and the FINA World Championships last year. City officials say that hosting the Universiade — world student games — was a major milestone that considerably boosted the development of sports infrastructure.
“More than 30 new sports venues were built from scratch, while 19 others were completely renovated,” Kazan deputy mayor Damir Fattakhov said.
“The hosting of the student games became a powerful spur to developing the city’s sports infrastructure.”
Fattakhov added that the city authorities also encouraged student sport by transferring the ownership of 18 sports venues to a local sports academy, a university and other educational institutions. “That was a wise decision. Now Kazan students have excellent opportunities to take part in sports at up-to-date venues,” he added.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called Kazan the “sports capital of Russia” during a visit to the city in 2013 and repeated this during a visit to Tatarstan in April. “People here know what sport is, they love it and are capable of organizing the major sports events,” he said at the meeting of his sports council.
Kazan was founded as a fortress in 1005 and was part of the Golden Horde Mongol empire in the 15th century before becoming the capital of a powerful Tatar principality called the Kazan khanate.
The city joined the Russian Empire in 1552 after being seized by Ivan the Terrible, who ordered thousands of Russians to resettle there.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Mintimer Shaimiyev, Tatarstan’s first president, said that encouraging healthy lifestyles was one of his top priorities.
Shaimiyev’s initiative received support both from the public and the business community. Such financial backing propelled the republic’s teams into the top leagues for the first time.
Regional oil company Tatneft is a long-term sponsor of Kazan’s Ak Bars ice hockey club. The team has since won Russia’s ice hockey title four times and built a 10,000-seat stadium in 2005.
Meanwhile, petrochemical company TAIF-NK sponsors Rubin Kazan football team, which was promoted into the top flight in 2002 and won back-to-back domestic titles in 2008 and 2009. Basketball club UNIKS and men’s volleyball club Zenit followed in its footsteps and have also achieved rapid success, claiming domestic and international titles.
Kazan’s success in hosting major sports events has heightened the ambitions of Tatarstan’s sports minister Vladimir Leonov and the city authorities, who have repeatedly expressed their desire to host the Summer Olympics.
“We all back the idea of staging the Olympics in Kazan,” said Kazan’s deputy mayor Fattakhov.
“I’m confident that if one day we are awarded the right to host the Olympics, we will be ready to stage it at the highest level five to seven years later.”
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