Athletes from around the world are now preparing to travel thousands of miles to display their sporting talent in the UK this summer.
While most will have their sights set on Olympic gold, for 180 student athletes, The University of Nottingham’s Tri Campus Games (TCG) Trophy represents the most coveted prize on offer.
For the fourth successive year, students from the University’s campuses in China, Malaysia and the UK will battle it out across 16 disciplines, at the only international University sporting event of its kind.
The Games, which are back in the UK after being held at each of the University’s Asian campuses for the past two years, will run from the 24-29 June under the banner ‘friendship through sport’.
A unique event
During this time students from over 20 different nations will compete in sports ranging from table tennis to tug of war, before taking part in a number of cultural activities, chosen to give students a unique educational experience and build lasting friendships.
This year, competitors will also have the opportunity to see the Olympic Torch as it passes through the University’s Jubilee Campus on the final day of the Games.
TCG organiser Nigel Mayglothling explained: “The Tri Campus Games provides our students with an international sporting and educational experience unique in the University sector and allows us to strengthen our status as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’.
“The competition allows students to meet their peers, learn about life in different countries and campuses and make global relationships which will help them in developing social and business links in the future.
“Always a close fought series of matches, Team UK will look to triumph on home soil as our Tri-Campus Games returns to the UK appropriately enough alongside ‘the other’ 2012 Games...”
A Five Ring Legacy
This year, TCG is part of a wider sporting celebration being held at the University to mark the London 2012 Olympics. Entitled the Five Ring Legacy Games, other events in the series include:
- the inaugural Nottingham Town and Gown, a thirteen-sport event held to bring University and city sports teams together in their first multi-sport match-up: Saturday 28 April
- the Further Games, offered local Further Education and Sixth Form students the chance to compete in eight sports at an event officially recognised by Inspire 2012: Friday 4 May
- the first Independent Schools Association Games, is to be hosted by the University from Friday 29 June to Sunday 1 July
- and the Nottinghamshire School Games, the culmination of Intra- and Inter-school competitions that will see the best of Nottinghamshire School Sport competing across a dozen events in search of the ultimate Schools Sport Champions: Wednesday 4 July.
Ahead of the latest event in the series, Nigel Mayglothling explained: “Being able to offer and support such a diverse range of Olympic-themed events says much about the University and its engagement with the wider ambitions around London 2012.
“Having our own International multi-sports games offers a template to inspire others whilst the inception of Town and Gown, with the community links and local competition that it establishes, allows us to be both hosts and participants in ‘the greatest Games in Nottingham’.”
All are welcome to join and support our athletes in competition, either in person or via
www.nottingham.ac.uk/sport as they celebrate and enjoy their own 2012 Games.
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is also the most popular university in the UK by 2012 application numbers, and ‘the world’s greenest university'. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a
Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research into global food security.