Countdown starts for the Chengdu World University Games

The Chengdu Games, originally scheduled to take place in 2021, will be held in the capital of the Sichuan Province between 27 June and 7 July 2022. They will bring together thousands of student athletes from all over the world to compete in 18 sporting disciplines. It is the first time in almost 50 years that the biennial event has been held after a gap of three years, and the organisers are already working hard to ensure that the games are worth the wait.

With a population of 16 million, the city of Chengdu is fast earning a reputation as a host of major sports competitions. In 2019 alone, the city hosted both the World Police and Fire Games and the ITTF Men's and Women's World Cups in table tennis. Its world class sporting infrastructure will be on display once more at next summer’s games.

The games will feature the 15 compulsory sports that must be held at all editions of the World University Games, including athletics, swimming and gymnastics. As host city, the Chengdu organising committee has also chosen to include three additional sports on the programme for next summer’s games: rowing, shooting and wushu. The latter – the Chinese term for martial arts – is a combat sport that has already been made an official event at the Asian Games and the World Combat Games.

The World University Games are nonetheless about much more than just sport. Educational and cultural elements are incorporated into each edition of the games, with competitors encouraged to aspire to the FISU motto of “Excellence in Mind and Body”.

The Chengdu games will be no different. The city boasts a unique cultural and historical heritage as the home of the ancient Shu civilisation and the birthplace of Taoist philosophy. It has also been recognised as the best city in China for tourists by both the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the World Tourism Organisation and became, in 2010, the first city in Asia to be named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

As they enter the final 12 months of their preparations, the world’s finest student athletes can therefore look forward to a feast of sport, and culture. It is one that FISU hopes will make a lasting and positive impression on both the participants and the city itself.

The countdown starts here.