POSTED: Monday February 7th 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Preparations for SportAccord World Mind Games 2011 in full progress

In almost exactly 10 months the first edition of the SportAccord World Mind Games will take off. Originally scheduled for September, the event dates have now been confirmed for December 8 to 17.

With the establishment of the Organising Committee this month, the preparations for the event are getting underway. One of the highlights will be the release of the SportAccord World Mind Games Emblem and Mascot in March.

“With the Beijing Conference Center we found a potential venue that is very attractive,” says SportAccord President Hein Verbruggen, IOC Honorary Member and former Chairmen of the Coordination Commission for the Beijing Olympic Games. “I have great experiences with China and Beijing. During the 2008 Olympics I built valuable friendships with the people here. The hospitality is extraordinary and the City of Beijing is very well experienced in the organisation of high level sports events. I like being back and am looking forward to the first edition of the SportAccord World Mind Games in December.”

The five mind sports on the programme are Chess, Bridge, Draughts, Go and Xiang Qi. This mix makes the event interesting for the European and US but also for the Chinese market. “There are over 500 million registered mind sports players and the number of practitioners around the globe is uncountable. Go and Xiang Qi are, of course, very popular in China and Asia. Draughts is also developing very fast here. The elite of these five mind sports will come to Beijing, in total around 170 top players. In Bridge and Chess we expect the reigning Chinese Women World Champions to be present,” says José Damiani, President of the International Mind Sports Association that is giving their full support to the SportAccord World Mind Games.

The format of the sports will be made very attractive for spectators. In Chess, for example, there will be a rapid game version. It is planned to bring the event on the Internet and TV so that fans throughout the world can follow their favourite players and their impressive strategies and moves live. SportAccord also aims to provide an online platform through which players around the world can participate in their virtual SportAccord World Mind Games.   

About SportAccord:
SportAccord is the umbrella organisation for 104 International Sports Federations and Organisations. Its mission is to support and to protect the common interests of the sports movement. Activities include the online video portal Sports Hub, the organisation of multi-sports games, doping-free sport, and sports’ social responsibility and sports’ integrity.

http://www.sportaccord.com
http://www.youtube.com/thesportshub
http://www.facebook.com/SportAccord
http://twitter.com/sportaccord

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Keywords · SportAccord World Mind Games · World Mind Games · SportAccord · Sportaccord · Hein Verbruggen · Bridge · Chess · Go · Draughts · Xiang Qi · Beijing

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Name: Iwona Lapinska
Organization: SportAccord
Email:
Phone: +41 (0)21 612 30 70
URL: http://www.sportaccord.com

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