World Draughts Federation President Harry Otten: "Ufa is not only Russian draughts capital, but also international one"

UFA, 2 March 2017. /Bashinform News Agency/. On March 2, at the House of the Republic the Head of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov met with the President of the World Draughts Federation Harry Otten. He came to Ufa at the International Draughts World Cup finals, which takes place at President Hotel from March 1 to 12. The sides discussed prospects of draughts sport development in the region and a possibility of hosting major international competitions.

“Our republic is a draughts area, recognized throughout the world. Therefore we are pleased to see and meet you here in Bashkortostan. I think that the International Draughts World Cup finals will be held at a good level. This is, of course, an important event, but the main thing is that we continue our draughts activity”, Rustem Khamitov said. “We will continue our joint work with the World Draughts Federation, with our colleagues. You can rely on our republic as the territory, where this sport will always be supported.”

“We are pleased to note that the draughts are very much developed in the republic. In 2013 Ufa already hosted the World Draughts Championship. It can be said with certainty that this sport is rapidly developing here,” said Harry Otten. “We expect that in the coming years several more competitions will be held here. I can state that Ufa is not only the Russian draughts capital, but also the international one.”

During the meeting the issues of weather forecasting were discussed too. This is due to the fact that Harry Otten worked at the Netherlands Institute of Meteorology and the University of Pennsylvania (USA), and in 1986 founded his own weather forecasting company. Currently MeteoGroup is the largest private meteorological company in Europe, with offices in 17 countries.