March 28, 2008Archive 2007–2013

Russian Tug of War Federation delegation visits Baltic colleagues

On March 8–10, 2008, a delegation of the Russian Tug of War Federation (RTWF), consisting of RTWF President Alexander Kuznetsov and Vladimir Gerasimov, president of the St. Petersburg Tug of War Federation (Federatsiya peretyagivaniya kanata Sankt-Peterburga), visited Lithuania and Latvia. The purpose of the visit was to study the experience of the Baltic tug of war federations in preparing teams and holding national championships.
In Lithuania, a competition for the Mayor's Cup of the city of Panevėžys was under way. Twenty teams competed in 4 weight categories (560 kg - youth, 560 kg - women, 680 and 720 kg - adults).
Accompanied by Juozas Širvinskas, president of the Lithuanian Tug of War Federation, the delegation visited the Kristalas sports club in Kuršėnai and a special training facility. Club president Alfredas Januška said that the sport had already proven itself in Kuršėnai and that a new training facility is planned to be built next year. In 2009, the first international competition for the Baltic Cup will be held there, and teams from Russia will be invited to take part.
The next day of the visit was spent in Saldus, Latvia, where the Latvian Indoor Championship was being held in a new sports complex. Twenty teams took part in the Championship (4 teams from Lithuania).
At the end of the visit, agreement was reached on holding joint training camps in St. Petersburg at the end of May 2008 and on jointly developing and popularizing tug of war in the CIS countries, the Baltic states and the regions of Russia.