The opening ceremony of the greatest event of this autumn took place yesterday in the beautiful St. Petersburg, Russia. The event was held in the Ice Palace, which welcomed thousands of spectators. Each combat sport – muaythai, aikido, boxing, fencing, judo, ju-jitsu, karate, kendo, kickboxing, sambo, savate, sumo, taekwondo, wrestling, wushu – represented themselves with the great shows to give the fans a small taste of what was still to come in the days ahead.
Muaythai showed a great performance, with an excellent wai kru ritual, and spectacular fight. The demonstration attracted the keen attention of all the spectators and press representatives in the arena.
To relax, the combat atmosphere of the event the ballet dancers and singers danced and sang a popular folk Russian song to the accompaniment of a new rock interpretation.
Among official guests were the representatives of the Russian Federation Government.
The President of the Russian Federation, an avid supporter of sport welcomed all the guests of the event in his video message and wished good luck and fair play to all the athletes from 108 countries.
To welcome the guests and wish everybody luck also came the deputy Prime minister of the Russian Federation – Mr. Dmitry Kozak.
The President of the SportAccord – Marius Vizer wished sportsmen good luck and stated that it is not just a sporting event but an exchange of thousands years of culture of martial arts and combat sports; and officially opened the SportAccord World Combat Games 2013.
