"The Future for Children" Charitable Foundation and the Kepaky Foundation launched a new season of the Olympic Dreams project with the support of the First Lady of Cyprus
2023-05-12 10:58
In honour of the official opening of the second season of the Olympic Dreams project in Cyprus, a charity event was held in Limassol by "The Future for Children" Foundation and the Kepaky Foundation.
From the Cypriot side, First Lady of the Republic of Cyprus, Philippa Karsera Christodoulides, Founder of the Kepaky Foundation, Andreas Sofokleous, the Chairman of the Cyprus Sports Organization (CSO) Andreas Michailidis, the President of the Cyprus Football Association Georgios Koumas and the Kepaky Foundation Board member Christina Sofokleous attended the ceremony.
On behalf of Ukraine, the event was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Cyprus Ruslan Nimchynskyi, philanthropist and founder of the Olympic Dreams project Anatoliy Boyko, President of the National Olympic Committee, Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and Olympic champion Vadim Gutzait spoke in a video message thanking Cyprus. The event was also attended by Oleg Orekhov, vice president of the Ivan Piddubny Olympic College, and Olena Pavlova, a member of the Irpin City Council, Karen Balayan and Oleksandra Starkova, representatives of the NOC of Ukraine in Kyiv region and CEO of Olympic Dreams project Oleksandra Novikova.
"Cyprus is happy to help Ukrainian children and young athletes," noted the First Lady of the Republic of Cyprus, Philippa Karsera Christodoulides, in her speech. "We are always happy to support Ukrainian children, especially in this difficult time."
The First Lady of the Republic of Cyprus, Philippa Karsera Christodoulides and
philanthropist and founder of the Olympic Dreams project Anatoliy Boyko
About 150 young athletes from the affected regions of Ukraine are staying in Cyprus as part of the Olympic Dreams project. They represent 6 sports: judo, taekwondo, football, fencing, gymnastics and athletics.
"The idea of creating a project of international sports camps came to us in the spring of 2022 when we realized that our young athletes were left without any sports infrastructure," said project initiator Anatoliy Boyko. - And sport does not forgive pauses. So this became the driving point for starting the camps."
The current camp is already the fourth since the beginning of the project. Cyprus, after Greece, became the third country to support the Olympic Dreams project and the first to host a sports camp for the second time in a row. In total, about 500 Ukrainian athletes trained in safe conditions, were able to prepare for important tournaments and competitions, and more than once raised the flag of Ukraine on the international stage.
"We and our foundation are already supporting Ukrainian children in Cyprus for the second time," said the Founder of the Kepaky Foundation, Andreas Sofokleous, "and we have plans to expand this support in the future as well."
The first shift in Cyprus of the Olympic Dreams project took place in January-February of this year - then 50 young Ukrainian judokas trained in a sports camp for two months.
The participants of the charity event in Limassol had the opportunity to get Ukrainian souvenirs, all the proceeds of which went to support the Olympic Dreams project.
The presenters of the solemn event were the well-known Marysya Horobets and Volodymyr Ostapchuk.
We will remind you that the project of international sports camps Olympic Dreams was launched in 2022 with the support of the NOC of the Kyiv region, the Embassy of Ukraine to the Hellenic Republic as well as the personal initiative of the patron of "The Future for Children" Fund, Anatoliy Boyko. The project's main goal is to support the Ukrainian Olympic Reserve.