The 2023 edition of the Brazilian University Games (JUBs) was officially opened on Monday night (9) with a big party at the Centreventos Cau Hansen in Joinville (Santa Catarina). The JUBs are the biggest university sports event in Latin America and are in their 70th edition.
The event brings together more than 5,000 athletes from 320 higher education institutions, representing the country's 27 university federations, and will run until 21 October. Over the 14 days of competition, the athletes will take part in judo, karate, Olympic wrestling, tennis, table tennis, para-sports table tennis, chess, academic, breaking, cheerleading, basketball, futsal, handball, volleyball and electronic sports (League of Legends, Electronic Football, Clash Royale, Valorant, CS Go and Free Fire).
Competition venues
The competitions will be held at various venues in the city, including Expoville (the main competition venue), Centreventos Cau Hansen, the Ivo Varella Training Centre, the Mário Timm Municipal Sports Gymnasium, the Abel Schulz Gymnasium, Univille, the Tupy Athletic Association and the Joinville Tennis Club.
Opening ceremony
The event's Opening Ceremony highlighted local culture, especially dance, as Joinville is known as the national capital of dance. The Governador Pedro Ivo Campos Municipal School, which is a ten-time champion of the local Dance Festival, gave a creative performance.
Another memorable moment was the tribute to the city's athletes. After the parade of delegations, the flag of the Brazilian University Sports Confederation (CBDU) was carried by the JUB mascot, Joka. The alligator Fritz, Joinville's mascot, carried the flag of the host city of the 2023 Brazilian University Games. The athlete's oath was taken by Unoesc volleyball player João Guilherme de Mattos, who represented Brazil at this year's World University Games in China.
The Brazilian flag was then carried by sprinter Ádria Santos, a four-time Paralympic champion and Brazil's greatest Paralympic medallist. Alongside Ádria, Olympic swimmer Eduardo Fischer, a native of Joinville, also took part in the celebrations. Local table tennis athlete Lhays Stolarski was responsible for the parade with the symbolic torch and the lighting of the Olympic pyre. Lhays was also part of the Brazilian delegation at the World University Championships.
