The results achieved by professional athletes, at which the whole world rejoices, are due to the measures taken the previous years, to the constant efforts made by sportspersons and the authorities to improve the situation in the sports sector. Such statements were made by the participants in IPN’s public debate “Moldovan-Romanian cooperation in sports sector, opened opportunities”.
Sergiu Gurin, secretary of state of the Ministry of Education and Research, said that today we see only particular results and this is the tip of the iceberg as a lot of work was done the previous years. ”In 2019, the budget for sports federations was doubled. Particular conditions were gradually improved in some of the sports schools, primarily at the national squads training center. Furthermore, the scholarships were raised twice in January. Additional stimuli appeared for athletes and coaches. Both the athletes and the coaches receive lifetime allowances and this enables the sportspersons to be sure that when they end their sports career, they will get a sports pension. This is paid also paid to coaches. This way, the athletes know that they win medals at European or world games not in vain,” stated the official.
According to him, the situation is difficult in the regional context, with a war on the border, after a pandemic crisis. However, Romania’s experience and the cooperation with the neighboring state in the process of meeting the European standards offer today a more optimistic and clearer perspective as to the developments in the field of professional sports and the promotion of mass sports.
Irina Volcu, secretary of the senate of the State University of Physical Education and Sport, said that regardless of difficulties, it is gladdening that the professional athletes are interested in research too. They choose to take part in academic mobility, enjoy the opportunities opened by Romanian universities and later choose to study for master’s and doctor’s degrees in Moldova.
“Research is also of interest to them. Since studying at the university, they become involved in research activities, different scientific congresses, scientific conferences, completing that bachelor’s thesis that is also research. We also have students who are professional athletes, like Irina Rângaci, who this year applied to study for a master’s degree, or Denis Vieru. These are champions who grew and developed while at the State University of Physical Education and Sport. Surely, they are also motivated by the results, by the fact that they can occupy a budget-funded place at the institution. They also have a personal interest as they, being involved in professional sports, often experience problems that later become scientific research subjects and this is an impetus to do research,” noted Irina Volcu.
The head of the International Relations and Marketing Department of the National Olympic and Sports Committee Vladislav Vyrtos said that regardless of the problems encountered by the athletes, the big challenges they face are related to their objectives to reach the winner’s rostrum.
“It’s clear that we go to international competitions and see those athletes who come from developed countries and what training sets and equipment they have. Nevertheless, despite the equipment, the training methods, our athletes at the moment have the capacity to confront any athlete, from any country. In the Republic of Moldova, wrestling, archery, boxing, canoeing, athletics, weightlifting are very developed. These are the main events in which we can compete internationally. The support for athletes should depend on the way in which full training for a calendar year is programmed. We, the Olympic Committee, and also the sports federation together asked and obtained the doubling of the budget. This is a very big surplus as the athletes enjoy a guarantee that they will benefit from appropriate training and, when they reach the starting line, they cannot complain that training was absent as they all start in equal conditions. No one slows down in order to favor someone else. We must see how we can plan the training schedule for athletes until the competitions start,” stated Vladislav Vyrtos.
He approved of the fact that owing to the cooperation with Romania, some of the professional athletes go to train and benefit from developed infrastructure in the neighboring country as the given infrastructure in Moldova needs to be considerably improved.
The public debate entitled “Moldovan-Romanian cooperation in sports sector, opened opportunities” was staged in the framework of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information”, which is implemented by IPN News Agency with support from the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova of the Government of Romania. The content of this article does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.
