Dmitri Torner: Our goal is to turn Moldova into one of the European centers of summer biathlon
Delegation of Moldovan Biathlon Federation has visited the IBU World Cup Final 2022/2023, which has recently ended in Oslo, Norway (Holmenkollen), reports Moldova1.
Along with the competitions, the representatives of the national federation had a number of meetings with the management of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) – the IBU President Olle Dahlin and the Secretary General Max Cobb. Dmitri Torner, the President of the Biathlon Federation of the Republic of Moldova, presented to the IBU officials a project of sports infrastructure development in Moldova, according to which a summer biathlon complex is planned to be built in the next 2-3 years in the area of the capital. The IBU highly appreciated the project and promised to support it in every possible way.
However, to start the development of biathlon in Moldova is planned with the reconstruction of a track on the basis of one of the sports complexes in Chisinau.
"We start with a smaller stadium, a track at the Dynamo Sports Complex. We hope to conclude a mutually beneficial agreement for both sides to let children start training before we build a big stadium within 2-3 years, being equally competitive with the Balkan countries. The point is to develop biathlon and biathlon starts from children," said Petr Bria, Secretary General of the national federation.
In addition, the officials of the Federation are actively studying the world experience of development and popularization of biathlon.
"We are studying the best world practices for the development and popularization of biathlon, and Norway is a trendsetter in this sport. Our goal is to turn the Republic of Moldova into one of the European centers of summer biathlon," said Dmitri Torner, the President of the Biathlon Federation of the Republic of Moldova.
He noted that the most valuable is the Norwegian experience in the context of cooperation with local authorities, in particular - municipal programs to support sports.
Aleksandr Semionov, head coach of the national team, also considers the development of the biathlon infrastructure to be crucial in the republic.
"There are about 120 biathlon centers in Norway. It can be taken as a joke or seriously, but we need to transfer this part of Norway to the Republic of Moldova," he said.
As reported earlier, the President of the Biathlon Federation of the Republic of Moldova Dmitri Torner announced a project of construction of a complex for summer biathlon, which includes 8 tracks of different distances, a stadium for 10000 spectators, a shooting range for 30 targets and other infrastructure. The project estimated at about $3 million is to be financed by investors from Austria and the United Arab Emirates.
Since the Biathlon World Cup Final finished, the Moldovan women's and men's biathletes teams have held the 21st and 22nd places respectively in the IBU ranking, showing consistent results for the third season in a row.
