RSU celebrates its athletes

On 31 May, Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) continued a tradition that started in 2017 and held a ceremony to celebrate the University’s best sports teams, athletes, and coaches of the academic season.

A wide range of RSU athletes, representing both individual and team sports, received certificates of appreciation from RSU Rector Professor Aigars Pētersons and Head of the Sports Club Laura Ritova. Prizes were awarded to competitors in bench press and powerlifting, athletes and swimmers. In team sports, the women’s and men’s teams and coaches of beach and classic volleyball, 3x3 basketball and classic basketball were honoured.

‘You are the heroes of RSU, because alongside the hard work you do studying, you are not only involved in sports, but also achieving great results in Latvia, the Baltics and Europe. The number of awards is increasing every year! Our award-winning athletes come from both the healthcare and social sciences faculties. This shows that you can find physically active and talented young people throughout our university,” said RSU Rector Professor Aigars Pētersons, addressing the participants of the event.

Toms Baumanis, RSU Vice-Rector for Administration and Development, stressed that an important task of RSU is to make students’ lives more varied and that sports is one way to do this. RSU students are actively taking advantage of this opportunity and achieving ever higher results, the Vice-Rector added.

In individual sports, Reinis Ratnieks won a bronze medal in powerlifting at the European Student Cup in Toulouse, France. In team sports, the women’s basketball team with their coach Matīss Rožlaps won third place in the Baltic Basketball League, which is not only the best women’s basketball achievement at RSU, but also one of the most significant achievements in Latvian student sports. RSU women’s volleyball players also had a successful season, winning four medals.

“This year, RSU had the largest team to participate in the Rimi Riga Marathon. It is yet another demonstration of our ability and will. We come from a sports background, so we understand how difficult it is to achieve great results and why we need to support our athletes. Therefore, I would like to thank the university management, colleagues, athletes and their coaches for their selfless contribution,” said Laura Ritova, Head of the Sports Club, addressing the audience.

The audience enjoyed a performance by Student Senator Jānis Jurkāns, a 2nd-year student at the Faculty of Medicine, who performed the song “Kalniem pāri” by The Sound Poets and his own song “Sniegbalti spārni”.