April is the month of the nationwide project “Sports Are Everyone’s Concern.” Between April 1 and 30 nearly 20,000 sports grounds will be tidied up all over Ukraine.
At a press conference on April 3 Family, Youth, and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko announced that this project is being carried out by his ministry in collaboration with the All-Ukraine Physical Health Center, as well as other ministries, government agencies, and sports clubs, including Spartak, Dynamo, Ukraina, and Kolos, reports Interfax Ukraine.
The minister said that the project will involve approximately five million people throughout Ukraine. Last year three million Ukrainians took part in a similar project to carry out repairs at 15,000 sports grounds. This project will make all kinds of sports accessible to most Ukrainians. Winners will be announced after the results of the month-long project are tallied. The most active participants will receive commemorative medals, diplomas, free tickets to gyms, and valuable gifts. Regional winners will be awarded cups and sports equipment. National winners will win a modern sports complex with equipment worth 33,000 hryvnias from the Inter-Atletyka Company.
Minister Pavlenko explained that the project is not financed by the central budget, although some 16.5 million hryvnias are expected to be contributed from local and regional budgets. He did not rule out the possibility that funds spent on this year’s project will be larger as a result of increased funding by sponsors and charitable organizations.
Commenting on the development of a sports infrastructure, the minister emphasized that some 80 percent of the 50,000 public sports facilities in Ukraine do not meet standards. More than half of these facilities were built or renovated more than 15 years ago.
