Games for everyone

The 2nd CIS Games will be the main sporting event
of this year in Belarus. The peculiarity of the upcoming
colourful festival is that the competitions
will not be concentrated in one specific location,
but will be held widely and everywhere — 
in eleven cities, thus covering all regions of the country.
In August, Belarus will turn into a large
and noisy cultural and massplatform, 
where there is a place for bright emotions,
great victories, and, of course, excellent mood. 

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko,

“The 2nd CIS Games is a milestone for you, a very serious criterion. If you fail the 2nd Games, then I will tell you frankly: you have nothing to do in sports.”

  During a conversation about certain issues of the development of sports under sanctions on December 15th, 2022

Come to us. We will be glad

The first Games held by Kazan in 2021 were attended by 1,139 athletes aged 14 to 23 from nine CIS countries. The competitions will be much larger in Belarus. Already, it is presumably planned that more than three thousand athletes will come to test their strength and compete for the championship, and the total number of guests (coaches, judges, medical personnel, other members of delegations) will gather at least twice as many. Geographically, the name of the competition seems to limit the list of countries that can take part in them, but the 2023 Games have their own neat feature in this regard: they will be held in an open format. This means that representatives of any other country outside the CIS will be able to apply, register and participate. Invitations have already scattered around the world and there is a feedback: a number of states have expressed their interest. Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, for example, are considering entering their representatives in the weightlifting tournament. Athletes from Mongolia, China, Cuba, Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia are ready to come to Belarus and compete in several disciplines at once... However, delegations from the CIS countries will be in focus: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Competitions will be held from August 3rd to August 15th in 20 sports in 11 cities of the country. Minsk will host tournaments in 3x3 basketball, volleyball, athletics, beach soccer, modern pentathlon, shooting and rhythmic gymnastics. In Brest, handball players and swimmers will reveal the strongest, in Vitebsk — representatives of Thai boxing, in Gomel — judokas, in Grodno — field hockey players and weightlifters, in Mogilev — karatekas and archers. In addition to the regional centres, the Games will visit regional cities: Borisov (futsal), Zhlobin (sambo), Molodechno (beach volleyball), Orsha (boxing), Soligorsk (freestyle wrestling, classical wrestling, women’s wrestling). Deputy Sport and Tourism Minister Aleksandr Baraulya says, “The idea to involve all regions was not born by chance. This will make it possible to show guests our entire country and present a great sports festival to residents not only of Minsk, but also of regional centres and district cities. I would like them to be able to come to the competitions with their families, with the kids and cheer for fellow compatriots and so on. It is a good timing for the forum. August is a period of holidays and vacations. If someone has not yet been, for example, in Soligorsk, there is a great opportunity to kill, as they say, two birds with one brick — to see the city and support our wrestlers. On the other hand, if you have been going to Grodno for a long time, this is a reason not to postpone the trip anymore. You will be able to see exciting weightlifting competitions there.”

Sports facilities are ready to receive guests in all regions of Belarus. Brest. Palace of Water Sports. 

Initially, the CIS Games format was conceived as youth competitions — the main platform for viewing talents and getting rich competitive practice close to the Olympic atmosphere. In most sports, youth and juniors will compete for awards in Belarus as well. However, there are types of programmes in which all the strongest athletes are invited, regardless of age, and in which the national teams of our country will put up the strongest teams: in sambo, weightlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, beach football and field hockey. If we take into account that the representatives of Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Mongolia are the main trendsetters among sambists, then the level of these competitions will be quite comparable to the World or European Championships. Incredible beauty awaits everyone on the gymnastic carpet, where the best graces of the planet will demonstrate their skills, led by the inimitable Alina Harnasko, Anastasiia Salos and the younger Yelizaveta Zorkina. Crazy heat matches can be expected in the beach soccer tournament, where the Russians have the second world rating, our team is in the top 10, and teams from China, Venezuela, Paraguay, China, Egypt are also planned to be among the participants... 

Brest. Victoria Palace of Sports.

Through hardship to the stars

The delegation of Belarus became the fifth in the team medal standings, having won 69 medals (8 gold, 32 silver and 29 bronze) in Kazan in 2021. Greco-Roman wrestler Hleb Makaranka was one of those who became the champion. Since then, he has significantly improved his skills, won many important victories, became the champion of Belarus and the leader of the national team in his weight category. In August, Hleb plans to take to the carpet again and compete for the title of two-time CIS Games champion. “There were tough fights and strong opponents in Kazan. I am glad that I was able to reach the final and win. Of course, I would like to perform at home CIS Games. The platform on which we will compete is familiar to me. A good venue, it is comfortable to perform in it, there is a place to warm up. We don’t know all the opponents yet, but, given the experience of 1st CIS Games, I have no doubt that all competitors will be strong, and we will need to prepare to every single fight,” Hleb Makaranka recalls.

Cornflower from the heart

The logo of the future Games, which was developed by the National Olympic Committee, reflects a number of elements characteristic of Belarus. Namely, an ornamental eight-pointed star that blooms into a bright cornflower. 
The approved motto ‘Strong in Spirit, Strong in Game!’ in a short and concise form conveys the main goal of the Games: the triumph of sport is the moment of a bright game, which is impossible without the presence of a strong character and the will to win. The mascot of the Games was an original Belarusian lynx named Rysia. 
“In heraldry, the lynx is always described as an agile and fast beast, possessing intelligence and a sharp mind, all qualities that are ideal for a sporting mascot. If you take a closer look, you can see that the patterns on the body of the lynx are made in the style of Malyavankas, inspired by the artist Alena Kish,” Head of the Marketing Department of the NOC Vitaly Ostrovsky. 
In each city that will host the competition, rich presentation programmes will be prepared for the guests, all conditions for fruitful work and good rest will be created. There will be completely free entrance to all arenas.

By Sergei Kanashits

Photos by BELTA, Aleksandr Zaharchuk, sportpanorama.by