LONDON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, will host the fifth European Universities Games in 2020.
The EUSA (European University Sports Association) flag was passed to the organising committee of Belgrade 2020 at the closing ceremony of the 14-day European Universities Games Coimbra 2018 in Portugal on Sunday.
The 2020 Games will be the second biggest multisport event to be held in Serbia, following the FISU Summer Universiade in 2009.
This year's Games, hosted by Portuguese University Sport Federation (FADU), City of Coimbra, University of Coimbra, and Academic Association of Coimbra (Academica), brought together over 4,000 participants representing 291 universities from 38 countries and regions across 13 different sports.
In his speech at the closing ceremony, FISU President Oleg Matytsin praised the work of the organisers in creating an event that offered the athletes and spectators more than just sport.
"The European Universities Games in Coimbra has been an enthralling event; from the opening events to the finals, we have seen incredible performances, shock results and amazing feats of athleticism.
"But our role in university sports is to provide educational benefits alongside the brilliant spectacle of sport. Coimbra 2018 has given our volunteers experiences of leadership, delivered informative presentations on practical issues such as anti-doping, and offered advice on how we as sports leaders promote inclusivity. This is the real value of university sport, and I hope that all who have participated over the last two weeks will go on to put their experiences into practice all over the world."
The European Universities Games is a multisport event engaging athletes from European universities, held every two years, hosted in different university cities across the continent. Coimbra 2018 marked the fourth edition of the Games, Europe's largest university sport event of the year and the largest multisport event ever organised in Portugal.
