Preparations are in full swing for the Shenzhen Universiade. As reporters found out July 24th at the second Universiade Committee general meeting, 147 countries and regions have registered for the Games. More than 11,000 delegation team members will come to Shenzhen, including over 7500 athletes.

Universiade venues to open for training on August 5th

According to the State Sport General Administration, the Shenzhen Universiade consists of 24 programmes and 306 disciplines, record breaking numbers for the Universiade, including 22 Olympic programes and 2 non-Olympic sports: chess and aerobics. Compared with last Universiade, 9 programs and 105 disciplines including sailing, badminton, shooting and golf will be competed in this year’s Games. Recently results of lot drawing for 4 group ball programs (soccer, basketball, volleyball and water polo) have been officially announced and competition agenda confirmed by the FISU.

CCTV to cover the Universiade opening and closing ceremonies live

The opening ceremony is the highlight of the Universiade.As revealing in the General meeting, the overall planning of the opening and closing ceremonies have been approved, the team seeking to display the concept of “Make a Difference” in aspects such as spots arrangements, event planning, choices of materials and application of new technology. Rehearsals for the event are following a tight schedule in the “Spring Cocoon”, the first real time rehearsal held on July 23, followed by 2 other rehearsals on August 3rd and 8th .

Tickets for the Universiade opening ceremony will not be sold to the public, but citizens can enjoy the performances on TV. The TV broadcast teams have already been set up, and CCTV will cover the Universiade opening ceremony live.

According to the resource, till July 20th a total of 297 media agencies and 2933 journalists from around the world have registered for the Games. Plus more than 1800 members from the broadcasting teams, an estimated of 5000 journalists will cover the Universiade Shenzhen.