Penza, 18 March 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza region holds the fourth place in Russia for the population of people involved in regular physical education and sports activities, announced Vladimir Zhuchkov, first Assistant Minister of Physical Education and Sports in the region, during the Ministry meeting at the Olympic reserve college on Friday, March 18.

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According to him, 38.8% of the regional population are involved in regular sports.

“This is 24.7% of the working-age population, 86.1% of students, 10% of the disabled,” Vladimir Zhuchkov clarified.

He stressed that the sports facilities availability level in the region is also one of the highest in Russia, at 39.5%.

“To increase the share of citizens involved in regular physical education and sports activities in various categories, we hold annual sports events that are included in the unified timetable of mass sports events of the Penza region,” the first Assistant Minister of Physical Education and Sports explained.

The sports events in 2015 gathered a total of 529,300 participants in the region, Vladimir Zhuchkov added.

“We held over 3,200 such events, including 311 regional ones for 66 sports,” he pointed out.