Wednesday, September 29, 2010

London students compete at World University Championships

http://www.london-student.net/2010/09/15/london-students-compete-at-world-university-championships/

Students from across the world have been competing in the International University Sport Federation (FISU) World University Championships over the summer.

This competition brings together teams from around the globe to a variety of locations where they compete in sports ranging from Golf to Rugby, from Orienteering to Squash. Also included, unusually, are bridge and chess. FISU, the organising body, was officially formed in 1949 but its origin goes back to the 1920s when Frenchman Jean Petitjean organised the first ‘World Student Games’ in Paris in May 1923.

In 1959, FISU and the ISU agreed to participate in the games organised in Turin, Italy by CUSI, the Italian Student Sport Association. Ever since this important event, the FISU games continue to attract more and more participants from a growing number of countries and universities, with the 2010 championships on course to set new records. The University of London has been represented with distinction by a number of students, competing in events from Badminton to Taekwondo, and bringing home a haul of 8 medals, including 3 gold! Competitors travelled from London to locations around the world. FISU events occurred everywhere from Mongolia to Uganda, via Italy and Canada!

The competition is still ongoing, so we hope to bring you results as and when they happen. One of the first sports on the FISU calender was Cross Country, held in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on the 11th April. Jo Harvey and Jess Sparke, both of St Mary’s College brought home individual bronze and silver respectively and were key members of the British team that took the overall gold.

On the 13th, 14th and 15th of August, rowing teams gathered in Szeged, Hungary where London Universities were very well represented in the British teams. Medals were won by Laura Greenhalgh, of Imperial College, who took silver in the women’s pairs with teammate Andrea Dennis, Oxford Brookes. Leonora Kennedy and Zoe Lee, also of Imperial, triumphed in the women’s coxless fours, adding another gold to Britain and UoL’s already burgeoning collection. In men’s rowing, Stephen Feeney (QMUL) and cox Max Gander (UCL) were part of the “phenomenal” victorious 8s, pocketing yet another gold medal. Alex Gillies, of Imperial College was part of the coxless 4s team that finished 4th. The final medal won so far by a London student was a bronze in Savate, also known as French Kickboxing, won by Sian-Marie Clark who came in 3rd in the 55-60kg category. UoL was also represented in Karate by Alice Goudie of UCL and in Taekwondo by Dawud Izza of the SOAS, who travelled to Vigo, Spain to take part and finished in the last 16. We at London Student Sport are very much looking forward to future results, especially in Badminton, which will have been completed by the time of printing. Good luck to KCL’s Rachel Howard who is going to Chinese Taipei to compete!

Keep reading London Student for the latest results, reflections and reports from athletes from the FISU World University Championships.

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