Kazan, Guadalajara to host swimming worlds

Russian city Kazan and Mexico's Guadalajara were chosen as hosts of the 2015 and 2017 world swimming championships as Hong Kong missed out. Governing body FINA held the vote on Friday, in the countdown to this year's event in Shanghai, which will hold its opening ceremony on Saturday. Kazan bid team communications director Irina Shadrina said the 2015 event would be a big boost for the western city of 1.2 million. "It's really great for our city. Usually people know about Russia. We have Moscow and St Petersburg but nobody knows others and now we want to be the sports capital in our country." "The aim is to make Russian people to be more healthy, to build more swimming pools for children. After the Soviet Union was broken up we had a lot of problems with that so we really want our nation to be healthy," she added. Mexican Swimming Federation president Kiril Todorov said winning the 2017 hosting rights was a "dream come true". "It is time to move to the next level (with) the opportunity to hold the crown jewel of our sport in one of the most beautiful cities in Latin America," he said. The 2013 world championships will be held in Barcelona.