Gennady Argakov: The most important thing is that we created the system 26.06.2010

It’s more than likely that’s the reason that the athletes who arrived from all over Europe were 100 percent satisfied with the tournament conditions.

- Can you tell us about preparation for the Championship? How had you been communicating with the Universities that arrived in Kazan?

- We started preparation for the Championship long before the first match of the tournament. We’ve done an enormous amount of work. For instance we managed to assemble the best umpires from all over Russia. And this is just one of the most important aspects of preparation for the European Championship. The Table Tennis Federation of Russia, the Russian Student’s Sports Union, the European University Sports Association rendered great assistance to us. Besides we are grateful to Andrzej Hrehorowicz. The Kazan European Universities Championship is result of teamwork. The same can be said about communication with the national teams of the Universities that arrived in Kazan.

- Can you share your thoughts about the Championship participants? Can you pick favorites at the moment?

- The Polish University and Orenburg State University teams are standing out in Men’s Groups and in Women’s Groups I can name the athletes of Jan Dlugosz University and Moscow State University of Railway Engineering.

- Kazan (Volga region) Federal University presents Russia at the Championship. Could you please tell us how the Kazan athletes got conditioned for the tournament?

- We need to mention two facts here. In the first place the closer the tournament was the more often we organized training camps. All of them were held in Tatarstan. In the second place all the training camps are monthly and systematic. They were held within the whole season. Many non-resident high level sportsmen were involved in the training camps. The Table Tennis Federation of Russia signed contracts with us according to which the federation sportsmen are to arrive every month in Kazan and spend 12-15 days at training camps with Tatarstan athletes. We do this because it’s impossible to move to a higher level without training with strong sparring partners. The Federation also signed a contract with honored coach of Russia Oleg Yurievich Smirnov. He also visits Tatarstan every month.
Last year we held a training camp in the Chinese city of Weifang. Five Tatarstan table tennis players spent nearly a month in China playing against Asian sparring partners. It was a very useful experience for them.

- The CT Chairs paid an inspection visit to Kazan recently. What recommendations or comments did FISU Chair CT Table Tennis Andrzej Hrehorowicz give?

- I cannot say that Mr Hrehorowicz had any serious admonitions. It’s better to note that there were many useful recommendations. He arrived in Kazan as a FISU CT Chair recently but at the Championship Andrzej Hrehorowicz first of all represents the European University Sports Association. For example, he highly praised the tournament facilities and lighting system.

- Table tennis is included in the sports program of the Kazan Universiade. What plans do you have till 2013?

- In 2009 Ainur Aideltdinov (President of the Table Tennis Federation of the Republic of Tatarstan) and I worked out a strategic plan on table tennis development in the Republic. The most important thing is that we created the system that started to work. It’s systematic work that will enable our plan’s implementation.

Alexey Sorokin, special correspondent of press-center
IV European Universities Table Tennis Championship