Vasily Zakharevich: "Preparation of the sports reserve continues as usual"
– Vasily Alekseevich, what marked the beginning of this year?
– Before the cancellation of international competitions due to the pandemic, athletes from the region pleased with high results. Biathlete Yulia Kovalevskaya won a bronze medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, and Irina Krivko won a medal of the same dignity at the European Championship. Nikita Gaiko won bronze at the continental championship in karate. Marina Nikitina became the European champion in indoor hockey.
The training of sports reserves continues as usual. All sports schools, centers, and Olympic reserve colleges operate in compliance with anti-epidemic measures. Competitions in the region have been postponed to a later date; we plan to hold them in late summer and autumn.
– How are the best athletes of Vitebsk region, who were preparing for the Olympic Games, training?
– In the absence of foreign training camps, they are training as part of the Belarusian national teams at republican Olympic training centers, mainly in Minsk. In fact, nothing has changed in their routine, except for enhanced compliance with anti-epidemic requirements.
– What can you say about physical culture and health work in the region?
– 23 sports and health clubs operate on a budgetary basis. More than 7,000 people are engaged in them. In the current situation, physical education classes play a special role. After all, as medics claim, it is one of the main ways to strengthen immunity. We predict that after the end of the difficult epidemiological situation, the number of people engaged in physical culture will increase. People have realized that the best medicine is immunity and a healthy lifestyle.
– What new sports facilities are planned to be opened in the near future?
– This year, the air-supported football arena in Vitebsk, being built with funds from the Belarusian Football Federation, will be commissioned. Four more comprehensive sports grounds with artificial turf will be constructed. One was recently opened in Lepel. They will also appear in the agro-town of Oktyabrskaya in the Vitebsk region, Shumilino, Postavy, and the urban-type settlement of Kokhanovo in the Tolochin district. We plan to commission the reconstructed stadiums in Bolbasovo and Barani in the Orsha district, as well as VSU named after P. Masherov in Vitebsk.
Projects are being prepared for the construction of indoor tennis courts in the regional center with the involvement of funds from the Belarusian Tennis Federation. The design of an indoor ice rink near the Palace of Sports is underway with the support of foreign investors. The construction of a swimming pool in Glubokoye is in progress.
– What would you like to wish the readers of "Vitebskiye Vesti" and your colleagues on the Day of Physical Culture and Sports Workers?
– This holiday unites everyone who, regardless of profession or age, loves an active lifestyle, who chooses movement, agility, cohesion, and the will to win. Congratulations and words of gratitude to the industry workers, veterans, physical education teachers, as well as everyone who works with youth. I sincerely wish my colleagues high results in their professional activities, good health, inexhaustible energy, and vigor of spirit.