CALI - The ninth edition of the World Games in Cali, Colombia, will start on Thursday (July 25) starts with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Pascual Guerrero stadium with 35.000 spectators.
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos gives the kick-off on behalf of the hosts of this multi-sport event, which is being held on the South American continent for the first time. Ron Froehlich, on behalf of the International World Games Association, will welcome more than 4500 athletes and officials from 101 nations. IOC president Jacques Rogge will also participate in the opening ceremony.
The World Games are held under the patronage of the IOC. The motto of The World Games 2013 is ’Fair Play to the Planet’.
Sixteen three-cushion players, 32 pool players (16 men, 16 women) and sixteen snooker players enter the tournament with 3000 athletes on Friday.
The first matches in the three cushion event are:
Marco Zanetti-Min Sam Ma, Forthomme-Christian Rudolph, Murat Naci Coklu-Merlin Romero, Kyung-Roul Kim-Henry Diaz, Dick Jaspers-Javier Teran, O Takeshima-Glenn Hoffman, Sameh Sidhom-Carlos Campino, Eddy Merckx-Frank Taylor.
The playing system: knockout to 40 points with equal innings, penalties and timer.
From Friday 26 until 4 August, 201 medal events in 26 official and 5 invitational sports are on the agenda. Billiards is one of them.
More than 25 venues will form the stage for the world’s best competitors in their respective sports.
More than 700 media representatives will be reporting on the event in Cali. Over 20 TV stations from five continents will be broadcasting competitions of The World Games.
Jean Claude Dupont, president of UMB (billiards world federation), who has already arrived in Cali: ,,Unfortunately, we could not manage to get permission for broadcasting the billiards event by Kozoom. Both for the television rights and for Internet rights the prize was very high. They were absolutely outside the norms we can handle with the WCBS-budget.''
World Games president Ron Froehlich expects extraordinary Games. ,,The Games have undergone an enormous development as a multi-sport event in the new millennium. The 9th edition will prove itself as an important milestone.’’
Rodrigo Otoya, president of the local organizing committee, describes the great expectations of the country, the region and the city: “We want to present ourselves as good hosts and welcome the world of sport to Colombia.”
Before The World Games start, Otoya wants to express his thanks to the more than 3.500 volunteers who will be in action during the competition days: “They are the smiling face of our city and our country.”