Seoul, Korea - Eurasian athletes took medals at the recent World Festival of Culture and Sports (including the Wongu Peace Cup) in South Korea March 21 to 24. Professional and amateur athletes from 40 nations competed as continental teams for medals in football, basketball, 100 m and 400 m races, table tennis, badminton, martial arts, and traditional Asian games of harmony and unity.
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A unique aspect of the festival was that participants sought not only to win prizes, as is usual in professional sports, but also to build bridges of friendship and connect with people of different nations and religions by means of sports and the spirit of competition.
At the sports competitions, the Eurasian delegation not only demonstrated friendship and unity but also won medals of different ranks. Khabilayev Adam from Kazan won a gold medal in martial arts; Nikolai Samiyev, Tongil mo-do instructor from Moscow, won a silver medal. The youngest and very promising badminton player from Kazan, Darya Jejula, won a bronze medal.
It was nice to see that after each combat, wrestlers shook hands and embraced, thus creating a unique atmosphere of the festival initiated by Dr. Sun Myung Moon as one of the brightest and dramatic demonstrations of the Unification Movement’s peacemaking activity.