The president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said Russia has always played an important role in the world of sports and defined future sports policies.
Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu will be attending the ‘Russia Is A Sports Power’ forum in Moscow between July 29 and August 1, 2010. Last year he also attended the forum, which was held in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan.
In an interview with RIA Novosti, Wu said participation in the forum is a very useful experience for him as it attracts best athletes, public opinion leaders, leading experts and influential politicians.
He also said that it would be good for him to learn about sports development in Russia, adding that although many people criticized Russian athletes for their poor performance at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada’s Vancouver, one should always remember that “the beauty of sport is in its unpredictability.”
The Russian team finished this year's games with its worst Winter Olympic medal tally in history and there is intense pressure on officials and athletes to ensure that a similar situation is avoided when Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi hosts the 2014 Winter Games.
Russia won just three golds and finished 11th in the medal table and after the Olympics President Dmitry Medvedev subsequently urged senior sports officials responsible for the failure to "make a courageous decision" and leave their posts.
MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti)
