The two journalists, Salesh Al Hammadi and Vladimir Dedic, were guests of the Gwangju 2015 Organising Committee after they won Gwangju's survey event during the AIPS Congress in Innsbruck in January this year that took place on the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.

Al Hammadi from Al Sharq newspaper in Saudi Arabia has served as chair of the Media Committee of United Arab Emirates Table Tennis Association while Dedic from Politika Daily in Serbia is the President of the Association of Sport Journalists of Serbia.

Both journalists are veteran sports reporters with more than 20 years of experience in the field.

During the visit, the pair met with Mayor Kang Un-tae of Gwangju Metropolitan City, who called from support from overseas reporters to realise the joint Korean team for the 2015 Summer Universiade.

The pair also attended the World University Badminton Champion (WUBC) in Gwangju and visited key 2015 Summer Universiade venues.

"I admire Korea and Gwangju's passion for sports and its potential for development through sports," said Al Hammadi.

"I wish that Gwangju will successfully host the Universiade 2015 and win the bidding for 2019 World Aquatics Championships."


Dedic was equally impressed, singling out Gwangju's policy to reconstruct the old apartment complex into the Athletes' Village for the 2015 Summer Universiade as a key move to avoid the faliures of past events.

"The biggest challenge for the 2009 Belgrade Universiade was the Athletes' Village," he said.

"After the Universiade, they remain empty now because of the bad economic condition of Serbia."

The endorsement from the duo is a boost for Gwangju 2015 Summer Universaide as the influential AIPS has 9,000 members from 152 countries.

It has its first plenary session in 1924 during the Paris Olympics and looks to strengthen the mutual relationship and benefits among sports writers from the world.

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