The official Closing ceremony of the World Games 2015 of the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation of the IWAS took place on Friday in Sochi.
The competitions on six sports, Athletics, Swimming, Archery, Table Tennis, Taekwondo and Armsport were held in the capital of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2014 from the 26th of September to the 2nd of October’2015.
More than 800 Athletes from 34 counties took part in the Event.
The winners by the team results of the tournament is the Russian National Team, who won 121 medals of highest award, 104 silver medals and 94 bronze medals.
The second place went to the Team from the Peoples Republic of China (25 gold medals, 18 silver medals, 13 bronze ,medals) , the third – the National Team of Poland (10 gold medals, 9 silver medals ,12 bronze medals).
The Closing Ceremony of the IWAS 2015 was held at the federal training sports complex of the Russian Federation “Yug Sport” (South Sport).
The solemn program was attended by the President of the International wheelchair and amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) Mr. Paul de Pace; the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Government, Mr. Arkadiy Dvorkovich; the Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Mr. Vitaly Mutko; the President of the Russian Paralympic committee Mr. Vladimir Lukin; the Head of the preparatory activities and staging of the World IWAS Games within the territory of the Russian Federation, IWAS Vice-president, the chairman of the Russian Paralympic committee Executive Board, First Vice-president of the Russian Paralympic committee Mr. Pavel Rozhkov; the First Deputy Mayor of the city of Sochi Mr. Anatoly Rykov; the President of the All-Russia Federation for people with physical impairments Mr. Lev Seleznev.
The leaders of the national teams solemnly brought the national Flag of Russia to the arena , the national Anthem of Russia played and the Russian national Flag was raised over the stadium.
The President of IWAS Mr. Paul de Pace in his speech to athletes underscored the following: “I would like to express the words of gratitude for the great work on preparation and delivery of the Games to the address of the organizing committee, the supervisors and all officers of the Ministry of sport of Russia, Russian Paralympic committee, All-Russia Federation for people with physical impairments, administration of Krasnodar Region and the city of Sochi. I am grateful to all for the attention, paid to everybody without exceptions, to all delegations and each athlete in particular. Most sincere words of apperception I would like to express to our volunteers for their job on the Games delivery. Thank you all!”.
The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Government Mr. Arkadiy Dvorkovichremarked:
“I am glad to see you in Sochi and congratulate with the successful performance at the World Games. The fact of your participation in the Games is the victory itself. The victory over yourself, over the circumstances. You showed a great will and courage, the professional skills and strong character, that could serve the model for each athlete. And the results got by you impress a lot and make us respect you. By the outcomes of the competitions the strongest national teams are defined. And for me it is a great pleasure to mention that our national team won the first place by team results. On behalf of the Russian Federation Government I wish all Games participants new achievements in sport and life. Best of the luck to you, sound health and all the best to everybody!”
The President of the Russian Paralympic committee Mr.Vladimir Lukin said:
“The World Games of the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation 2015 held in Russia in Sochi city became the history. No doubt they contributed a lot into the strengthening of the International cooperation, the promotion of Paralympic values and further development of the Paralympic Movement in many countries worldwide. I hope, that all participant and guests of the Games, the heads of the International wheelchair and amputee Sports Federation, International Paralympic committee, International federations of sport for people with impairments, are fully satisfied with the conditions of the receipt, the sports venues and overall infrastructure of Sochi. Some separate words of gratitude must be said to the address of our partners, who assisted a lot to deliver this great international sports forum. Firs of all it is the Fund of Paralympic sport Support “Parasport”, the Charity fund “Legacy”, the sports club “Vityaz” city of Podolsk, company “Coca-Cola”, Sberbank Insurance, “Yug Sport”, “Adlerkurort”
The Minister of Sport Of the Russian Federation Mr. Vitaly Mutko declared the IWAS World Games 2015 in the city of Sochi closed.
The Flag of the International wheelchair and amputee Sports Federation was solemnly taken out of the arena by the IWAS President Mr. Paul de Pace and the representatives of organizers, IWAS Vice-president Mr. Pavel Rozhkov, IWAS EB members – Charmaine Hooper, Bob Paterson, Dina Sotiriardi, Tariq Almansouri and Rudi van den Abbele.
The solemn closing ceremony of the IWAS 2015 World Games of the International wheelchair and amputee Sports Federation was finalized with the performances of the Russian artistic groups.
“Athletes –paralympians, certainly, fight not only with their competitors , but each of them daily overcomes the obstacles because of their physical limits. The singularity of the Paralympic Movement is in its values and determination is often the way to success to the life beyond the Sport. The facilitation the development of the Paralympic Movement is pone of the key targets of our Fund “Parasport” (The founder of the Fund of the Paralympic sport “Parasport”, General Partner of the IWAS World Games 2015, Mr. Oleg Boyko).