Competition starts one day before Universiade opening

KAZAN, Russia - One day before the official opening of the 2013 Kazan Summer Universiade, competitions already started on Friday.

The first round of the team badminton started at 10:00 local time while the second round of competitions will begin at 17:00 on Friday.

The preliminaries of women's 1 meter springboard and men's 3 meters springboard diving events also started Friday morning.

The women's football tournament will open with a match between defending champions China and Ireland at the Rubin Stadium. The other 13 matches will be played at the Olympic Stadium, the Raketa Stadium and the Trudovye Rezervy Stadium.

The water polo tournament begins with the match between the United States and Brazil at 12:30 on Friday and it will be followed by the matches between Japan and Australia, Serbia and Montenegro, Hungary and Georgia, Italy and Belgium, Russia and Canada.

Preliminaries of boxing and synchronized swimming also started on Friday. But the first gold medal of the 2013 Kazan Universiade will not come out until July 7, the day after Saturday's opening ceremony.