XVII Winter Diplomatic Games at GlavUpDK branch at Moscow Country Club

On February 11, 2017, Moscow Country Club – a branch of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Main Administration for Service to the Diplomatic Corps (GlavUpDK) hosted the XVII Winter Diplomatic Games. The competitions, featuring the heads and staff of diplomatic missions, as well as employees of the Russian Foreign Ministry and GlavUpDK, are really popular with the diplomatic corps accredited in Moscow. This year more than 300 amateur athletes, including representatives of 30 embassies, have participated in cross-country skiing and futsal, table tennis and billiards competitions, with the total number of guests exceeding 450 people.

In his welcome speech to the participants and guests of  the Winter Diplomatic Games, GlavUpDK Chief Mr. Alexey Izotov said that on February 10^th  Russia celebrates Diplomatic Worker’s Day and  congratulated all diplomats on their professional holiday, having wished them good health, wellbeing and success in work. Mr.  Izotov also thanked the Russian Olympic Committee and the famous Soviet and Russian athletes for their unfailing support of the Winter Diplomatic Games and wished the athletes and their support team who arrived at Nakhabino Moscow Country Club the best results and most exciting impressions.
Olympic Champion and First Deputy Head of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Svetlana Zhurova congratulated all those taking part in the Diplomatic Games on the Annual Winter Sports Day which reminds of the 2014 Sochi Olympics opening, and emphasized the importance of sports and healthy lifestyle for diplomats’ a successful work.

Multiple Olympic Champion Galina Gorokhova read out a traditional greeting to all those present on behalf of the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, and introduced the members of the panel of judges. The 2002 Olympic Champion in cross-country skiing Mikhail Ivanov spoke the words of the judges’ Olympic Oath. On behalf of the Diplomatic Games participants, the Olympic Oath was read by the Embassy of Kazakhstan counselor Erik Sugurbekov.

Snowy February and the comfortable winter weather have created excellent conditions for skiing competitions that involved representatives of the Embassies of Belarus, Germany, Latvia and Lithuania. Chinese and Mongolian diplomats did great in table tennis, while in billiards the luck was with the diplomats from the Embassy of Kyrgyzstan.

As usual, the futsal tournament that featured 14 teams was the most popular event among the diplomats. The Moscow Country Club Sports Center saw quite a battle for the first place, which could be compared in scale to the world-class competitions especially as the players were actively supported by the staff of the embassies, including the diplomatic missions’ heads. The team of the Embassy of Laos dominated the tournament and lost it in the finals only to the hosts – Moscow Country Club staff”, while the third place was shared by football players from the Embassies of China and the Republic of Korea.