Igor Artemyev: “There is a perspective that snow rugby will be included to the Olympic Games in 2026”.
The Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Russian Rugby Federation (RRF) Igor Artemyev spoke about the prospects of the inclusion of snow rugby in the program of the Winter Olympic Games.
– We started playing snow rugby for natural reasons. We have no fields and a lot of snow. A couple of years ago, we started thinking about how we should model this sport. First we, and then the other northern countries, started talking about it. Then the World Rugby Federation decided on the rules and the holding of the championship. The first European championship was held last year. The Gold medals were won by girls and boys from Russia. This is the official European Championship gold. Because there is no snow, the following countries do not take participation in snow rugby: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
There is a very important promise that snow rugby will make it to the Olympics. There won’t be many competitors there. In 2026 the Olympics will be held in Italy. Ice hockey is the only kind of sport of Winter Games, besides curling. Snow rugby also belongs to this list, because it is an interesting team sport. The rest are individual sports.
The organizers are considering the possibility of introducing snow rugby into the program of the Winter Olympic Games. If this happens, we can have a good chance of becoming one of the three best countries in the world. The main competitors are the Olympic countries and the northern countries, but so far we are all beating them, – said Artemyev on the program “Все на Матч!”.
Source: news.sportbox.ru