World Universiade 2017 flame to be lit up in Astana Jan 25

“On December 22, the regional headquarters have finally agreed the route of the World Winter Universiade torch in 16 regional centers,” a press release reads.

The flame of the   XXVII World Winter Universiade 2017 will be lit up in Astana January 25. Throughout five days, each region will light up its own flame and will hold its own torch relay stage.

In whole, the flame will travel the distance of more than 22,500km, 200km of which will be covered by torchbearers.

Air Astana, the official carrier of the Games, will bring the flame from regions to Almaty, where the opening ceremony of the Universiade 2017 will take place.

“The concept of the Universiade 2017 torch relay event is unique. The organizers divided the project into 16 independent parts and enabled each region to adapt and customize it. There are now 16 routes differing from each other. The torch relay will expand geography of the Universiade from one city to the scale of the whole country,” chief organizer of the event Nail Nurov said.

It should be noted that the length of the route in each regional center varies from 10 to 12km given that each torchbearer will run around 200m. As for Almaty, 100 people will bear the torch on a 20km route. The flame of the Universiade will be lit up in the area of the Al-Farabi KazNU and will visit major sport facilities of the city: Shymbulak, Medeo, Baluan Sholak Sport Palace, educational centers, sights and will stop at Almaty Arena Stadium during the opening ceremony.