Napoli celebrates Summer Universiade’s 60th birthday

The Summer Universiade has a long history going back to 1959 and now celebrates sixty years of successful events, this week in Italy. It started in 1959 in Torino and the Games are back in Italy in the south of Italy in Napoli, the judo city of Italy where Olympic Champions such as Pino Maddaloni grew up and many current judo stars have their roots like Christian Parlati. Watch the video below about Judo in the south of Italy.

Squadra

Tonight the opening ceremony will be in the sold out San Paolo Stadium in Naples. The judo competition will begin Thursday 4 to end Sunday 7 with the team competition. The Italian team is led by Massimo Sulli and Massimo Parlati and is composed of Martina Castagnola (52), Beatrice Brienza (57), Chiara Cacchione (63), Carola Paissoni (70), Debora Sala (+70), Mattia Micheli (66 ), Andrea Gismondo (73), Tiziano Falcone (81), Lorenzo Rigano (90), Claudio Pepoli (+90).

The level of the Universiade is always high, just think that the strongest nations in the world like Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia and France without neglecting the others, which are present with all 10 categories, 5 males and 5 females.

Napoli culture

Napoli is primed to combine the dynamism of university sport with the region’s culture and history. It’s particularly fitting that an Italian city should host the 30th edition of the event as the Summer Universiade got its start six decades ago in Torino.

Sports are a way of life in Italy’s third-largest city. Walking along the famously narrow streets of Napoli, pickup football games spring up in unexpected corners of the city as passionate fans crowd around café televisions whenever S.S.C Napoli and other teams play.

The city’s historic centre, Centro Storico, and natural splendors like nearby Amalfi Coast will play an ideal supporting role to university student athletes in action. Just imagine playing for the Universiade tennis title beside the Gulf of Napoli beachfront, with the shadow of Mount Vesuvius to one side and the island of Capri to the other. As a backdrop for competitive summer sport it doesn’t get more impressive than this.

The 2019 Summer Universiade hosts are prepared to run an efficient operation – one that leaves refurbished sports venues throughout the Campania Region for people to enjoy for years. With the passion of sports pulsing through the city, Napoli 2019 should add further inspiration to add sports to people’s daily lives, particularly on the university campus.

Even when the Universiade flame is extinguished, the Napoli Summer Universiade is poised to leave a shining legacy.