MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russian national men and women’s curling teams are set to do their utmost at the 2019 Winter Universiade, which kicks off in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk in less than two months, President of the Russian Curling Federation (RCF) Dmitry Svishchev told TASS on Monday.
At the 2017 Winter Universiade in Kazakhstan’s Almaty Russia’s female curling team took silver after losing to the Canadian squad in the final. The national men’s curling team failed to qualify for the play-off round of the 2017 Universiade.
"The main task of our national team is traditionally high, let alone speaking about the home Universiade," Svishchev said. "We failed to accomplish our tasks in full at the Universiade in Kazakhstan, but now our athletes are ready to show their maximum level."
The coaching staff of the Russian national curling teams announced earlier in the day the line-ups of men and women’s squads for the 2019 FISU Winter Universiade.
The line-up for men’s curling squad includes Daniil Goryachev (the 2016 world champion in mixed teams), Alexander Bystrov, Vadim Shvedov, Denis Islamov and Nikolai Cherednichenko. The coach of the men’s team is Dmitry Melnikov.
The women’s squad comprises Ulyana Vasilyeva, who is the 2017 Universiade silver medalist and the 2016 European champion, Maria Komarova, Yekaterina Kuzmina, Anastasia Danshina and Anna Venevtseva. The coach of the women’s team is Alina Kovaleva, who is the 2015 European champion.
The Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, which has a population of over one million, was elected to host the 2019 Winter Universiade at the session of the FISU Executive Committee in Brussels in 2013. The event is scheduled for March 2-12, 2019.
he Winter Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years in a different city. The name of the international sports event is a combination of two words, which are ‘University’ and ‘Olympiad.’
It is only second to the Olympic Games. The program of the Winter Universiade currently includes 6 compulsory sports (8 compulsory disciplines) and up to 3 optional sports chosen by the host country.