FISU official: Chengdu Universiade to be "once in a lifetime experience"

LAUSANNE, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The 2021 Chengdu Summer University Games will be a "once in a lifetime experience," a senior official of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Monday.

"The Chengdu Universiade will definitely be a different Games, but it must be a spectacular one, I'm sure," said Zhao Jing, FISU Games Summer Director. "It's going to be once in a life experience for everyone."

The FISU announced the schedule of the 2021 Chengdu Universiade on September 28, 10 months before the start of the Games slated for July 28-August 8, 2023.

Eighteen sports comprised the competition program for the Chengdu Universiade after two postponements in 2021 and 2022. On May 5, FISU announced that the Chengdu 2021 Games would be pushed back until 2023.

"We have a very coordinated Chengdu Universiade Organising Committee and we have very good communication with each other. The Chengdu Universiade Organising Committee is expected to present its preparation to the Executive Board of FISU in Brussels next month.

"We believed Chengdu could make miracles. We hope the Chengdu Universiade will be the same as the previous FISU Summer Games, with athletes and fans around the world enjoying it. But we are also ready to have an inner-circle, closed-door tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic," Zhao said.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced postponements or even cancellation of sports meetings, Zhao said athletes were looking forward to returning to competitions. FISU called off the Lucerne 2021 Winter Universiade after pushing it off from January to December in 2021.

"The world college athletes are eager to have a real University Games. Chengdu has many world-class and great stadiums and Sichuan is also the home of pandas. We're looking forward to many delegations in Chengdu if the Games will be staged as expected," Zhao said.

FISU adapted age limit and eligibility of student athletes for Chengdu Universiade to allow the participation of all students that were eligible in 2021 and 2022.

"That is going to be fun, and I'm expecting many interesting things to happen in Chengdu next year," Zhao said. "And it also means the Chengdu Games will be a splendid one in FISU's history. Born different, destined spectacular - that's how we describe the Chengdu Universiade."