With less than two months to go before the Ostrava 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships, the president of the local organising committee Libor Varhanik is confident his team will deliver an outstanding championships in the Czech city.
“So far we are on track with the preparations for hosting a successful championship,” said Libor Varhanik, following an internal co-ordination meeting of the LOC.
“We are expecting extensive media coverage for the event as this is the category where the future Olympic champions come to prominence. That is why we have to put our best foot forward. I hope we will be successful in raising people’s interest in this exceptional event,” added Varhanik, who is also the president of the Czech Athletics Federation.
He also praised the city authorities for their continued support to athletics.
“We have been receiving great support from the city of Ostrava. Luckily for us, nothing has changed after the local elections and we can actually add these championships to the extensive list of top athletic events organised in Ostrava. And if the stadium is reconstructed as has been promised by the city authorities, we can assure our people that the city will witness a number of big athletic events in the coming years,” he added.
Ostrava is one of the four cities bidding to host the 2013 European Team Championships along with Bydgoszcz (POL), Braunschweig (GER) and Gateshead (GBR).
“If the European Athletics U23 Championships turns out well, which I am very confident of, it will broaden our horizons in terms of staging other big athletic events in future,” said Varhanik. “The European Broadcasting Union has decided to sell the rights for live broadcasts of Ostrava 2011 to the whole of Europe. This also indicates the value that major stakeholders of the sport accord to the event.”
The 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships will take place at the Vítkovice City Stadium in Ostrava from 14-17 July.