Nicole Resch: “It is very important for us that we can count on Belarus in case of any emergencies”

 According to NOC press-service, today, January 12, 2016, the meeting of the first Vice-President of NOC Belarus Maksim Ryzhenkov and IBU Secretary General Nicole Resch took place in Ruhpolding.

In the course of the meeting, Secretary General was given a message from the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to the IBU President Anders Besseberg. The message was a proposal to hold one of the Biathlon World Cup stages at Raubichi National Winter Olympic Training Center both on regular basis and in case of emergent relocation due to weather or other circumstances.
IBU representative thanked Belarusian part for that proposal and expressed her confidence in working out all necessary details to implement those initiatives by International Biathlon Union and National Biathlon Federation.
– We are glad that our sport is considered to be one of the most popular ones in Belarus and that so much attention is paid to its development, – Secretary General noted. – And although the schedule of Biathlon World Cup has been made up to 2019, it is important for us to know that we can count on support of your country in case of any emergencies.
What concerns Biathlon Top Tournaments, starting from 2019, as Nicole Resch noted, IBU will welcome Belarus sending the corresponding request in accordance with established procedure for its further consideration on the nearest Union Congress.
She says that IBU appreciates the experience of Belarus in initiating and organizing such major events as Biathlon Junior World Championships, Legends Race – Biathlon Stars for Peace that have gathered dozens of thousands of fans. It is of great importance that so much attention should be further paid to junior championships.
Maksim Ryzhenkov expressed the willingness to receive all necessary inspections of IBU in Belarus to study the infrastructure in order to entrench Raubichi a status of a reserve location for organizing biathlon events. At the same time he assured IBU Secretary General that Belarusian center is ready to hold even the most ambitious events on top level.
They also discussed the possibility of carrying out common projects by IBU and Belarus in order to develop biathlon: technical courses for specialists, training camps, meetings of committees and working groups.
Apart from that, Maksim Ryzhenkov visited Ruhpolding Biathlon stadium and met with the athletes and national team specialists.
It is to be recalled that the 5th stage of Biathlon World Cup will take place in Ruhpolding on January 13 – 17.

Reference:
Raubichi National Winter Olympic Training Center was built in February 1974. The Center serves as a training facility and sports venue for biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined, ski jumping, slalom, speed skating, freestyle skiing and snowboarding. This facility held Biathlon World Championships of 1974, 1976, 1982 and 1990, Biathlon European Championships of 1998 and 2004, Alpine Skiing World Cup of 1991, Freestyle Skiing European Cups series of 1995 and 2006. For holding Biathlon World Championships in 1982 “Raubichi” was given UIPMB golden mark. In 1996, the International Biathlon Union awarded the sports facility with “A” category, giving a license for a higher level competitions without any exceptions. In 2014 a large-scale reconstruction of Raubichi was completed making it perfect for running international top-level competitions.

Translated by Alexey Sokolov, the student of the 5th year of Interpreting and Translation’s school, MSLU.