The official opening ceremony of the 2nd CIS Games will be held today in Minsk Arena.

The first competitions of the Games began the day before: the qualifying rounds of the Graces were held in the capital’s Rhythmic Gymnastics Palace. And the first champions and prize-winners have already been determined in four sports.

The winners of the medals will also be announced in weightlifting (Grodno), Greco-Roman wrestling (Salihorsk), and judo (Gomel) tournaments.

According to experts, the most exciting competitions will be beach football, rhythmic gymnastics, weightlifting, sambo, and field hockey, where the strongest athletes will perform. In other sports, young athletes will compete for awards and, in the future, will take place in their countries’ national teams.

At the home Games of the CIS countries, Belarus will be represented by 673 athletes, the second largest delegation from Russia is 602 athletes, and Uzbekistan is in third place regarding the number of representatives.

One of the main features of the Games is that they will be held throughout the country. Another important detail is that the Games are open. Not only athletes from the CIS came to Belarus, but also guests from Venezuela, Pakistan, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Egypt, Mongolia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Oman.

The Games will be covered by about 1,000 journalists from Belarus and media representatives from more than ten countries. The main press center of the Games operates at the Belarusian State University of Physical Education. The center is equipped with all the equipment necessary for journalists. It has more than 30 wired Internet access points, Wi-Fi access, computers, and places for media representatives to work. The competition will be broadcast on the official website of the Games belarus2023games.by.

In other cities that will host the competitions of the Games, press centers have also been organized with everything necessary for work. For the convenience of press workers, their accreditation cards will allow free use of public transport in the cities where the competitions will take place.

Most competitive programs in 14 sports can be seen on Belarus 5, ONT, and STV national TV channels. The solemn opening and closing ceremonies of the competitions are planned to be shown on the air of Belarus 1.

The official closing ceremony of the multisport forum will take place on August 13 at the Minsk Arena.

Games tournament venues are Minsk (rhythmic gymnastics, athletics, volleyball, modern pentathlon, shooting, beach football, 3x3 basketball), Brest (handball, swimming), Grodno (field hockey, weightlifting), Gomel (judo), Vitebsk (Thai boxing), Mogilev (archery, karate), Soligorsk (wrestling), Molodechno (beach volleyball), Orsha (boxing), Jlobin (sambo).

Entry to all competitions is free.

UzA