Celebrating the most athletic universities in Ukraine, masterclasses and competitions: how the International Student Sports Day was held in Lviv region.
The International University Sports Day has been celebrated on 20 September since 2015 in accordance with the decision of the UNESCO General Conference. Ukraine joined the global initiative in 2017.
This year, as part of the celebration of the International University Sports Day, an all-Ukrainian sports and recreation event was held among students across Ukraine from 16 September to 3 October. In total, about 50,000 students from 300 educational institutions joined the celebration.
In the Lviv region, the celebration was organised at two locations: the Stepan Grzycki Lviv National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology and the Ivan Bobersky Lviv State University of Physical Culture. There, the participants could try themselves in a variety of sports and activities, including arm wrestling, fencing, shooting, boxing, powerlifting, volleyball, athletics, wrestling, basketball, rock climbing, chess, e-sports, as well as various master classes, a track and field race, and much more. About five hundred students took part in these events.
The winners of the 19th Summer Universiade of Ukraine were also awarded during the celebrations. It included competitions in sixteen sports: badminton, basketball, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, weightlifting, water polo, volleyball, handball, rhythmic gymnastics, judo, athletics, rugby sevens, archery, table tennis, taekwondo (WTF) and football. Thirty thousand participants (eleven thousand female students and nineteen thousand male students) from 24 regions and Kyiv competed in the Universiade.
Students of the Ivan Bobersky Lviv State University of Physical Culture won in two categories at once: among all higher education institutions and among higher education institutions of physical education and sports (category 1 of the competition).
Among the third category institutions (with more than 10,000 students), the second place went to Lviv Polytechnic National University.
Among the fifth category institutions (with up to 5,000 students), the winner was the Lviv National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology named after S. 3. Hzhytskyi National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology.
“Students involved in sports won’t necessarily become professional athletes, but they will know exactly what sportsmanship is, improve their teamwork skills and have the will to win. After all, sport is about both physical health and the development of moral and volitional qualities. I believe that the more sports, the healthier the nation, and that is why we have a separate area within our Comprehensive Programme for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports – to support pupil and student sports,” says Roman Khimyak, Head of the Youth and Sports Department of the Lviv Regional Military Administration.