Big numbers for the 18th edition of the Sports Festival at the Porto Antico in Genoa. A record crowd with 120,000 admissions and a crescendo in the three opening days of the kermesse, from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 May 2022. The greatest success was recorded in the multi-sports areas where the most diverse disciplines alternated. Absolute novelty this year is the boom of games for the mind, chess with over 1,000 players and risk in its debut. Over 6,000 active participants who attended the courts set up inside the Cotton Warehouses, badminton, table tennis, archery.
Today there were 103 to run the Blue Mile, 170 for the Mini Mile reserved for 5 to 13 year olds. Great public also for the two gymnastics and judo exhibitions hosted in Piazza delle Feste with a total of 2,000 spectators. High attendance also for the activities proposed by the Police – Carabinieri, Guardie di Finanza, State Police – and by the Army with almost 7,000 very young people to follow the sports and educational program. Continuous flow for classic activities such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, football and great interest also in bowls, mountain biking and boxing, there were over a thousand wearing gloves and a helmet for the first time. Stadium cheer under the stages for dance performances and open stage applause for martial arts.
Over 2,000 ‘sport passports’ were returned after trying at least six activities to be entitled to a series of gadgets and prizes made available to sponsors. The most athletic came to try twenty-three, a truly impressive result.
“Festa dello sport is a winning mix between fun and the desire to learn – underlines the president of Porto Antico di Genova Mauro Ferrando. – The idea of contributing every year to make young generations passionate about sport is the result of great commitment and is for us a reason of great satisfaction. Sport means well-being, sharing and respect: values to be transmitted and promoted for a more cohesive and inclusive society “.
“The numbers are important – notes Luisella Tealdi, the company’s events manager – and those of this edition are truly special. It went better than the last complete party, that of 2019, and better than expected, but the numbers are never the our goal; the balance of the 2022 Sports Festival is given by the surprised and amused glances of the children and by the thanks received from their parents, happy to see them so enthusiastic. This is our goal, to put Porto Antico at the center of the best habits every day of the Genoese “.
Festa dello Sport is organized by Porto Antico di Genova and Stelle in Sport with the collaboration of the historical partners Uisp and the Agorà social consortium and the patronage of the Liguria Region, the Municipality of Genoa and Coni Liguria. A special recognition came this year from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers – undersecretariat for sport with the official patronage to also support the patronage of The Ocean Race – The Grand Finale and the inclusion of the Party in Move Week, the largest sporting event community in Europe dedicated to the promotion of sport and physical activity.
