Road to Sochi Olympics 2014. Success story of Rana Raza Khan

A passionate student/athlete can enlighten his country among the nation in Olympics and Paralympics. Being a first ever person from Pakistan in Sochi Paralympics 2014 Russia, I decided to share my  experience in Olympics with all of you. I am Rana Raza Khan from Pakistan studying in University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. This success story may be helpful for those who want to explore the world and meet their star athletes from around the world.

Working force has been a core part of the Olympics and Paralympics Games they work with an organizing committee. Organizing committee of Olympic Games (OCOG) provided exclusive training courses, English lessons, a uniform, meals, transport around the city, and a certificate of participation.

Follow the high dreams and struggle to make them true is a big deal. I wanted to explore the world so I hunt the great opportunity to work in Sochi Winter Paralympics 2014, Russia. I applied for Olympics and Paralympics 2014. I stand in the crowd for Paralympics, I am thankful to organizer to accept me for Paralympics and I hoped that in Rio 2016, I`ll get chance for both games. It was very tough competition and OCOG took different type of test step by step and I have passed all of them and received big news that I got selected. It was a great happiness for me.

I was very excited before departure because I am going to fly first time in my  life. I wanted to see Olympics live and this time I am going to make it real.

My first destination was Istanbul and I have 17 hours stay over there and I could not sleep for a second there and I was waiting for Sochi. I reached above to the Olympic park at night  and it looks very beautiful and it was illuminated all around with colorful lights after seeing this my heart beat getting fast I tried to captured picture from the airplane, Air hostess were trying to stop me but she gave up in front of my excitement.  When I reached in Adler International Air port, I received a warm welcome from Sochi Olympics volunteers and they guide me how to get to the volunteer village. For volunteers in the Coastal and Mountain Clusters tents, stages, sound, lighting and video equipment have been set up to provide entertainment for volunteers in their spare time, with performances from a cultural and entertainment program. Here I am very thankful to OCOG for great hospitality during games.

When I reached in Sochi Olympics games were continue  and I have some free days so I visited number of beautiful and cultural places in Sochi like Adler, Khosta, Matsesta ,Krasnayapolyana , Laura and Roza Khotar. I can say that Sochi has a beautiful and extra ordinary structure.

I am thankful to all of my teachers especially. Dr. Yasir Jamil (Chairman Department of Physic UAF) and Mr. Zia Ul Haq , they encouraged me on every stage and appreciated me so much for this unique opportunity. I am also very thankful to worthy Vice Chancellor (UAF) Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan cherished me to grab this opportunity.

After 5 days I received my uniform and accreditation card and I enter 1^st time in Olympic park I can’t explain highness of my happiness in words. And it got double when I met with Pakistani Olympian Muhammad karim (Skier). He is the only Pakistani skier to participated in giant Slalom event of Sochi Olympics 2014 and his coach Javaid Iqbal, they got surprised and they really appreciated me and they give me beautiful pins as present.  They encouraged me to keep this track on and they invited me to come in Olympic village (mountain village). I was the only one from Pakistan who met them and took memorable picture with stars.

First time in life I watch Sidney Olympics 1998 on TV and I wished at that time I can see opening and closing ceremonies live and in 2014 it happened in reality I was on duty at Fisht stadium and I got chance to see all world class performances live.  I took many pictures with international athletes I had a busy evening in Fisht stadium on opening ceremony.  Action started on Saturday and runs until Sunday 16 March and the Games featured 547 athletes from a record 45 countries, with 72 gold medals up for grabs across the five sports - biathlon, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling. And I was the luckiest person who watches live all these games freely.

Over 8,000 volunteers have taken part in Russia’s first-ever Winter Paralympic Games, working a collective total of 80,000 shifts. The majority of the volunteers were Russian, coming from numerous time zones. Over 400 international volunteers from over 60 countries around the world are engaged. I was living with 6 volunteer and we all seven were from different countries so we shared our knowledge and we learn many things from each other. Their names are Stefano Matarrese (Luxemburg), Bruce Faulkner (Canada), George Rolling (Greece), Ivan Ryabkov (Russia), Erik Furreboe (USA),  Yuanchao Ma (China). They are now my good friends and some of them will meet again in Rio Olympics 2016.

During work and off time volunteers and spectators from different countries were coming to asking  me about my country and when I was telling them about our culture , tradition , sports  and beautiful land, they got astonished and replying me that Pakistan is a wonderful country and we were imagine on the other hand. I have over 10 years’ experience in volunteer work and now I’m earning the rewards. It’s an opportunity to learn and develop. The outcomes are so life-enhancing.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/volunteering-in-sochi-paralympics-2014/x/4189473

Kazan Universiade; The next door to Olympic Games for Student Athletes

The Summer Universiade 2013 opening and closing ceremonies were held on the 6th and 17th July 2013 respectively in the most beautiful and attractive city of Russia. The Kazan is a World Heritage Site. A multi-ethnic city, famous for Muslims and Christians living side-by-side in peace. There is a famous Mosque by Qul Shareef which is near to the Universiade village. This Mosque is an example of outstanding architectural and rich Muslims Traditions.

The word Universiade it’s an Italian word and its meaning is “Unity of Universities”.

We congratulate  the FISU (International University Sports Federation) for their good decision to select a great place for big games and Kazan Universiade proved that now they are able to host any great event in the Kazan city like world Olympics in future. KU was not a small event as 162 countries had participated in 27 different sports competing for 351 sets of Medals. Russian athletes proved their skills and they were top on the medal table with 292 medals. The Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the athletes who had won medals at the Summer Universiade in Kazan. "I congratulate you on a convincing victory of the Russian student team at the Summer Universiade in Kazan," Putin said at a meeting with the winners of the 2013 Summer Universiade on July 19. China hold 2^nd position with 77 medals including 26 gold medals and Japan hold 3^rd position with 84 medals out of which 24 were gold medals. Higher Education commission of Pakistan had also sent 27 athletes in  different games in Kazan Universiade but they return without any medal, I hope HEC will do better in next time. Each victory ceremony of the 27^th Summer Universiade was a bright and spectacular show.

Now I will tell you about great facts about this event. Universiade Avenue to appear in Kazan! A new street which joins Esperanto Street and the Universiade Village will be named Universiade Avenue in the recognition of the recently completed the 27th Summer Universiade 2013 in Kazan. This road was built in the build-up to the World University Games.

One unique place different from all other facilities worked in the Universiade Village during the competition days. The participants of the Games, as well as coaches, members of the delegations, the organizers, staff and guests could experience there calmness and peacefulness, they could tune in the right mood, or just relax that was different to their rhythm and intensity of struggle. It is the center of religion. It is a large area of more than one thousand square meters with six spacious rooms, each of which is not just a room for religious rituals, but a real small Mosque, and their availability of Holy Qur’an so Muslims can spend their best month of Ramzan ul Mubarak (month of fasting) in Universiade Village, church, sanctified, designed in a special style and interior, full of symbolism and miracles. Lists of the icons in the Orthodox Hall, singing bowls in the room of the Buddhists.

The transport sector of 27th World University Summer Games in Kazan organized work on high level. There were some complaints, but urban services were able to respond to all of them in a timely manner. Aydar Abdulhakov, Chairman of the Transport Committee, said that from June 20 to July 20, more than 4 million passengers travelled free on all forms of public transport in Kazan.

No event will be successful without the Media coverage so for this purpose administration choose RIA Novosti as  a host agency of the 27th Summer Universiade 2013 and which sent the biggest in the history of the World University Games team of journalists to Kazan. Universiade administration used all types of media to promote their event in the world especially social media.

All the game venues were full of the people during whole games you can guess the games important in Russia about ticketing statistics. 85 % of tickets to the Summer Universiade sold! The ticketing program has sold over 613,000 tickets. On the 10th of June, 33,000 tickets to the Kazan Universiade events were sold in the city’s ticket offices. There were 35 sales offices where one can buy a ticket for a sport event. So that there are no empty stands ,field managers watch how many places are not taken and 40 minutes before the competition they allow spectators who are near the venue and eager to get in fulfill the empty seats.

In the Universiade 2013 the best thing was their volunteers who made it beautiful and attractive I personally very appreciated all the volunteers of Kazan Universiade. 20,000 volunteers from 35 regions of Russia and 24 countries serve as volunteer. Kazan 2013 volunteers’ slogan was “Make U real” reflects the importance of each volunteer in holding large-scale sports event and a huge amount of opportunities that the Universiade 2013 offers to all the participants. The assistance of Kazan 2013 volunteers were help stage the World University Games at the highest level, and each of 13,500 participants and more than 100,000 tourists from all over the world will enjoy the comfort of modern hospitable city. They have done it very well. It`s all due to the good management of Alessandro Karpone the Director of the Department for volunteers  and especially we have to appreciate  the Anna Feldman Head of training volunteers who trained all volunteers very well. We also appreciated the Tatyana Nikulina Head of recruiting volunteers, She had choose good 20,000 volunteers by proper way , interview and vice versa.

FISU delegation presented the flag of FISU for next Universiade venue to the Mayor of Gwangju,  (South Korea ) Kang Un-Tae during closing ceremony of 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan. Although the Universiade finished, but it`s memories will stay in our hearts forever.

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15% Youth believe Pakistan is going right now

Pakistan’s youths are losing confidence in the future and a mere 15 per cent believe that the country is heading in the right direction, while 72 per cent feel economically worse off than a year ago. Only 10 per cent expect an improvement in the near future. The political parties in the country have a lot to be ashamed about given that only one third of the youth believes that democracy is the best form of governance. Pakistan’s political class is generally viewed as ‘selfish and corrupt’. In contrast to this, 60 per cent expressed confidence in the armed forces.

This is even more disheartening when coupled with the widespread detachment from the political process: A mere two per cent are members of a political party, while only 39 per cent voted in the last election. In fact, half are not on the voters’ list. This does not bode well for the future of the political system, and hence for Pakistan itself.

These and other similarly ominous findings were established in a comprehensive and exhaustive nation-wide survey carried out recently by the British Council in Pakistan.

While only 15 per cent of the youth in Pakistan believe that the country is heading in the right direction, it also establishes that “the next generation loves Pakistan, despite the country’s failings. It is also civic minded, with nearly half believing education’s primary purpose is to learn to be a good citizen or to gain a broad understanding of the world.”

The demographic boom in Pakistan is best encapsulated by the projection that there will be a rise of 85 million people in the next 20 years, which, as the report would put it, is ‘equivalent to five cities the size of Karachi’. This increase of 44 per cent is double of the world’s average.

Great emphasis is laid on the youth of the country given that “half its citizens are under twenty; two thirds have yet to reach their thirtieth birthday”. The age group of the study population was 18-29, out of which one-forth of the respondents had “never attended an education institution”. It is of note that for girls and rural respondents, this proportion rose to over one-third, while half of Balochistan’s youth had no education at all.

The young demographic make-up of Pakistan is, on the other hand, also viewed as a potential positive for the country. “With so many young adults, Pakistan has a window during which it can achieve a massive surge in its development, creating wealth that can be reinvested for the future.” It is shown that 92 per cent of the respondents viewed education as the way out of Pakistan’s troubles. However, the report warns that the time to act on this is now. “The window of opportunity will close around 2045, by which time the society will be ageing rapidly. During this period, therefore, investment in the next generation will have a huge impact on Pakistan’s long term prospects.”
Source: TheNews

Water disaster in Pakistan

Pakistan to Block Facebook Amid Muslim Anger

Pakistan to Block Facebook Amid Muslim Anger