For athletes and volunteers arriving in Zagreb, the first port of call is to head to EUG HQ at the Faculty of Kinesiology to pick up accreditation and welcome bags, so they can gain access to the building, settle into dorms and finally have a meal after a long day of travel.
Today, we spoke to the badminton team from the University of Geneva and the University of Nottingham as they waited for their accreditations.
One player, Vicky Janssens told they had been traveling since 6.00 hours, flying from Geneva to Zurich and then onto Zagreb, arriving around 10.00 hours. Their journey saw few problems, only that they had to place their racquets in hold luggage instead of carry-on, and they were slightly worried they’d get damaged in transit.
Whilst they waited for their Chief of Delegation to get their accreditations, they told how excited they were for the Games. Some had never played in European Universities Championships or Games, or been to Croatia, so they were looking forward to having fun and discovering a new place. Vicky said that while it was not her first time in both respects, ‘It’s always fun to come back to the Games and nice to experience it in a different country.’
After receiving their accreditations after a 45-minute wait, they hurried off to check in and get some lunch.
The players from Nottingham had been waiting about half an hour, after coming in from a quick two hour flight straight from Heathrow, London, had never been to Croatia before. They were looking forward to spending time in and exploring the country. Upon flicking through a programme during their wait, they became even more excited when one player spotted an all-you-can-drink bar crawl later that night, promising to bring their coach along with them.
