Following a meeting in Turkey last week between President Andrzej Duda and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was announced that Turkish fighter pilots would be joining NATO military exercises in northern Poland. Mariusz Błaszczak, the head of the Ministry of National Defense, announced on TVP 1 that the Turkish planes would be stationed at the 22nd Tactical Air Base near Malbork and would be arriving sometime in June. The air policing exercises will be aimed at protecting the integrity of the sovereign airspace of the NATO member states.
Turkey is currently the second-largest NATO country in terms of military potential and a key element of NATO defensive strategy.
Source: Radio Gdańsk
The European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk has won the 2021 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage.
Known as the Europa Nostra Awards, these accolades are given by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, a federation of NGOs from 40 European countries dealing with cultural heritage.
The European Solidarity Center (ECS) was honored in the „education, training and awareness-raising” category for its permanent exhibition, which exemplifies “how to preserve stories and make them relevant to the contemporary world.”
An international panel of experts applauded the exhibit for “highlight[ing] the value of activism for human rights, labor rights, and political rights,” and showing how such efforts “built the Europe that we know today.”
The permanent exhibition at ECS focuses on Poland’s Solidarity trade union, which was born after the historic August 1980 strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard, and developed into a national freedom movement embracing over 9 million people.
Source: PAP, Radio Poland
Poland on Sunday successfully defended their European Athletics Team Championships title after two days of competition.
The Polish team scored 181.5 points, beating runner-up Italy (179 points) and Britain (174 points) in third place.
Poles came in first in ten different events, including 100 meters flat and hurdles, high jump, hammer throw, pole vault, shot put, and women’s 4×400 relay. Hammer thrower Paweł Fajdek also set a new European Athletics Team Championship record after a throw of 82.98 meters.
Unlike most international competitions, The European Athletics Team Championship does not award medals in individual events, but rather to the overall winning team based on a points system. The annual tournament was held this year in the southern Polish city of Chorzów.
Source: PAP, Radio Poland
Poland’s 3×3 basketball team has won a place at the Tokyo Olympics after beating Latvia in the semi-final of their qualifying tournament.
The Polish squad, comprised of Michael Hicks, Szymon Rduch, Przemysław Zamojski and Paweł Pawłowski, defeated Latvia 20:18 in Graz, Austria, on Sunday. Earlier the same day, Poland beat Slovenia 21:16 in the quarter-finals of the qualifiers.
3×3 basketball is a variation of the standard game and will make its debut as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Games, scheduled to be held in Japan from July 23 to August 8.
Source: Radio Poland
Polish tennis phenom Iga Świątek will take to the court today to defend her French Open title against her close friend, Kaja Juvan of Slovenia.
The No. 9 ranked Świątek, who turns 20 today, is highly favored to win the match against her unranked competitor. The two women will face off today at 12:00 CEST.
The 2021 French Open will be held in Paris from 30 May to 13 June 2021 with the participation of Świątek, the defending champion in the women’s singles, and Rafael Nadal, the four-time defending champion in men’s singles.
Source: WTA.com, PAP
Weather
This afternoon will be mostly sunny with a strong breeze coming in from the north and very little chance of rain. Temperatures will peak around a high of 15°C, or 59°F, dropping to a low of 9°C or 48°F overnight. Clouds and rain will move in overnight and stay through tomorrow, with warm, sunny weather returning midweek.
EPeck/pb
