Penza, 8 September 2014. PenzaNews. Penza sports palace “Burtasy” is completely ready for the beginning of the 20th World Diving Championship, said Kathy Seaman, chairman of the Technical Committee of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), during a press conference held on Monday, September 8.

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She also pointed out the high standards of competition management.

“All the necessary services successfully cope with their tasks. They will be very busy, since the junior championship is a very important event. The program of this competition has more diving events than the Olympics, since several age categories will be competing for the medals. The other members of the technical committee and I are greatly impressed with the organizers’ approach to the preparation for the championship,” Kathy Seaman noted.

In turn, the President of the Russian Diving Federation Alexei Vlasenko stressed the importance of the fact that the world championship will take place in Penza.

According to him, such events have never been held in Russia before.

“Some time ago, the Commission of the International Swimming Federation had doubts about holdihg the championship in question. During one of the meetings, they even raised the question of transferring the competition to a different country. But they gave Penza a chance, and now I see that all the problems have been solved. Having reviewed the conditions in which the championship will be held, I can definitely hope that it will become one of the top junior tournaments ever held in the world,” he said.

The opening ceremony of the World Diving Championship will be held at sports palace “Burtasy” on Monday, September 8, at 17:00.

The sports events will also be shown on the big screen that have already been installed on the front of “Burtasy.”

The sports events will take place on September 9-14. Up to 400 athletes from 33 countries will be competing for 14 sets of medals in the age categories of 14-15 and 16-18 years.

Among the judges will be representatives from 24 countries, including two from Russia.

The Russian national team will be represented by 20 athletes. Among them are three Penza residents — Igor Myalin, Olga Kulemina and Valery Belov.