Universiade: ARU ready on venues and athletes' lodging

(ANSA) - Naples, September 20 - Flavio De Martino, director of the technical department of the Naples Regional Agency for Universities (ARU), said his organisation will be ready to welcome the athletes for the 2019 Universiade World University Games.
    "All the venues will be fully ready for events and practices," De Martino said during his presentation at the City of Naples' Universiade Commission, which met on Thursday.
    De Martino said that the venues will be ready and some finishing touches might also be completed after the Universiade.
    "The important thing is that there are all the necessary conditions for carrying out the sporting events," he said.
    ARU also reviewed progress on the programme for the athletes' accommodations.
    Annapaola Voto, ARU's institutional affairs director, said the International University Sports Federation (FISU) said it is available to reduce the number of athletes that will arrive without reducing the number of sports, "but by trying to prune the teams, arriving at 8,000 athletes".
    "The three locations for the athletes' village are set in Naples, Salerno, and Caserta. We've signed the contract with MSC for the first cruise ship, and the call for tenders for the second ship has been published. There will therefore be 4,000 athletes in the Port of Naples. In Salerno there will be lodging for about 1,500 athletes and in Caserta in the hotels there will be a minimum of 1,500 to a maximum of 1,700. We're therefore missing 1,000 places, which we will find in the hotels in Naples and Caserta, giving priority to Naples because there are also other university residences in Pozzuoli and Via Brin, in the city, that we can use. For hotel reservations, we will use the CONSIP platform that, thanks to a framework agreement, allows for making reservations with a streamlined procedure. The commission will therefore subscribe to the platform. We have already completed a pre-scouting and we've found sufficient availability for the beds. We are already starting to also work on mobility, security, and on the medical services to guarantee," Voto said.
    The ARU directors said all the documentation will be presented to FISU on September 29 at the Executive Committee Meeting scheduled in Lausanne.
    "Among the international delegations the Naples 2019 edition is highly anticipated," De Martino said.
    "The beauty of our area has drawn enthusiasm in many of the participating countries, such as the US. There will also be an optimal impact from the point of view of tourism," he said.