Mountain Trails Agency head: Gov’t “doing its best” for Ski World Championship preparations
The official opening of the event on February 18 will involve performances by Georgian artists and an entrepreneurial market with Georgian products, the head of the Agency Irakli Burchuladze said, adding “we will all witness a grand spectacle - both in the opening and closing parts as well as during the Championships”.Photo: Mountain Trails Agency's press office.
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Irakli Burchuladze, the Director of the Mountain Trails Agency of Georgia, on Wednesday told agenda.ge state authorities were “doing their best” for ensuring everything was in place for the winter resort of Bakuriani to host the Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships starting this month.
Set to run in the town located in central Georgia between February 16 and March 5, the tournament will host up to 700 athletes from 42 countries on the main trails of Didveli and Kokhta mountains, where they will compete across seven disciplines.
The World Championships are held in Bakuriani with the support of the Government and are organised by the Mountain Trails Agency and the Ski Federation of Georgia.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili last month held a working meeting with state agencies involved in preparatory works for the championship, pointing out the importance of the international event for the country.
Photo: Government's press office.
Burchuladze told agenda.ge the “principal winter sports event of the year” for the country would give a “completely new direction” to the development of the country’s tourism opportunities.
The official said the large-scale infrastructure works necessary for hosting the competition had been “practically completed” in Bakuriani, and emphasised he was “proud” to see the works being evaluated positively by the International Ski Federation.
The final FIS inspection included Michel Vion, the Secretary General of the international governing body, with officials from the Federation noting the "high quality” of the works and discussing the future of the resort as a ski destination of a “European level”.
Burchuladze noted the new infrastructure included three new cable cars and two water reservoirs in the area of Didveli and Mitarbi - facilities he called “essential for the perfect functioning” of the artificial snowmaking system.
He also emphasised the new snowmaking system itself comprised a length of 29 km, and pointed to the addition of six new trails and special safety equipment to the resort’s infrastructure and equipment.
Photo: Mountain Trails Agency press office
“In terms of mountain infrastructure, we have everything in order, we meet international standards and have executed everything in the shortest possible time”, Burchuladze told us.
The official opening of the event on February 18 will involve performances by Georgian artists and an entrepreneurial market with Georgian products, the head of the Agency said, adding “we will all witness a grand spectacle - both in the opening and closing parts as well as during the Championships”.
Photo: Mountain Trails Agency press office.
He also noted that following the tournament, the new infrastructure would serve the increased number of visitors to Bakuriani for the next decade and contribute to increasing the recognition of the resort on an international scale.