‘Gift from Russia to the world’ – Putin opens Games of the Future

The first-ever phygital sports tournament kicked off in the city of Kazan

The Games of the Future opened in the Russian city of Kazan on Wednesday. The first-ever international phygital event combines conventional and electronic sports.

The opening ceremony was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as a number of foreign leaders and top officials. Speaking during the ceremony, the president called the games Russia’s “gift to the international sporting family.”

“The Games of the Future are free from political conjuncture, all types of discrimination and double standards. I am sure that genuine sport will reign at the Games’ venues,” Putin stated.

Russia remains among the world leaders in sports, the president noted, adding that it was “natural” that the very “idea of combining classical and electronic sports” was conceived in the country. The Games of the Future were preceded by a series of lesser-known physical events, the Phygital Games, during which players competed in various disciplines, with the winners qualifying for the ongoing event.

The Games are set to run for two weeks, bringing together over 2,000 participants from more than 100 countries, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, one of the key figures behind the event, has said.

“A little less than a third of all countries in the world have become participants in the phygital movement; in Russia, phygital sports federations have been created in almost all of the country’s regions,” Chernyshenko stated, adding that the major interest sparked by the Games shows that Moscow had “figured it right” with the new format and is happy to “gift” it to the whole world.