UIPM 2015 Biathle/ Triathle World Championships: History Made on Final Day

BATUMI, GEORGIA - India made a little bit of history on the final day of the UIPM Biathle/Triathle World Championships in Batumi, Georgia.

It was Biathle taking centre stage on day three with Youth F athlete Akuskar Sawar Shivshankar picking up a bronze to mark her country's first ever Biathle medal.

Over the day, the competition encompassed all levels and classes from Boys and Girls Juniors and Youths all the way up to Women's and Men's Senior's and Masters.

Frenchman Alexandre Henrard took Gold in the highly anticipated Men's Senior's with Tomas Svoboda, twin brother of Olympic Champion David Svoboda, in second. Gintare Venckauskaite of Lithuania took Gold in the Women's equivalent.

All the results, including those of some fantastic and highly competitive Youth A and Juniors are all on the UIPM website (http://goo.gl/aKKqbb).

The Biathle competition brought three days of top class sporting action to an end.

Egypt had been the dominant force in the two previous days of Triathle events winning 3 Golds in the Mixed Relays on Day One and 11 Golds on Day Two in the individual events encompassing Youth A, B, C, D and E along with the Juniors and Seniors (Women).

All in all, the Championships have been hailed as a resounding success both by UIPM and the Georgian MP Federation who organised the competition so well.

Viacheslav Malishev, President of Georgian Modern Pentathlon and Triathlon National Federation, said: "The competition was a big success for our federation and for Georgia in general. We took extra care with our preparations because we wanted to have the best Biathle/Triathle World Championships ever.

"Georgia is a good example of how UIPM's development programme is working. A few years ago we had no young athletes at all now we have the biggest team of the world championships.

"More than 800 people came here from abroad. We had 130 local volunteers from universities and I feel we have set a good example for other countries."

Dr Klaus Schormann, President of the UIPM, echoed President Viacheslav's sentiments. He said: "When I visited Batumi in May and I saw how well they were organising these Championships and now we can see the result. The water was warm and clean, great sunny weather for everybody and the athlete's performances were outstanding. That is what I really liked to see.

"The volunteers were really engaged in setting up all the field of play and ensuring the smooth co-ordination of the event. It was a joy to behold.

"I am sure next year in Florida we will double the participants and maybe we have 50 countries coming there. It is a growing movement and sponsors and partners can tell this.

"Batumi leaves a special legacy for the UIPM. Everybody will go home with a great memory of a fantastic Biathle/Triathle World Championships here. The 32 countries involved will speak back home about Georgian hospitality. We are very optimistic for the future of Biathle and Triathle."