Russia's new Concept for sports reserve to up competitiveness

A document regarding the Concept of preparing Russia’s promising young athletes, signed by the prime minister earlier in the week, will help to keep the national athletes competitive on the global arena, Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov told TASS on Tuesday.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed on Monday the Concept of Preparing Promising Young Athletes in Russia until 2025. Medvedev said the document envisaged a new transparent system for drafting young athletes for national teams, adding that that the Concept "also sets updated professional standards for coaching staff and criteria for sports schools."

"The Concept envisages a formation of the state system for preparations of the sports reserve," Kolobkov said in an interview with TASS.

"Firstly, it will provide for a systematic draft of talented athletes to the national teams of Russia," the Russian sports minister said. "Secondly, we will manage to build an uninterrupted process for the further development of the sportsmanship."

"Considering all of the above stated criteria, we will secure the competitiveness of the Russian sports on the global arena," Kolobkov added.

At the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, held in Argentina’s Buenos Aires between October 6 and 18, the team of Russian young athletes bagged a total of 59 medals (29 golds, 18 silvers and 12 bronzes), beating its national record. For the first time in history, the Russian national team was in the lead of the medal standings, followed by China (18-9-9) and Japan (15-12-12).

Signing the Concept on Monday, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev lauded results of the youth national team in Buenos Aires, adding he hoped that high results of the national athletes would be also registered during the 2019 Winter Universiade in Russia.

The Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, which has a population of over one million, is set to host the 2019 Winter Universiade next year between March 2 and 12.