ITALIAN skiing star Alberto Tomba arrived in Sarajevo yesterday to organise a slalom race for peace at one of the former Winter Olympic venues on the outskirts of the Bosnian capital.
Tomba assessed the state of the slalom run on Bjelasnica mountain, south of Sarajevo, where on December 23rd, a top-quality field including the Italian will compete in a Slalom of Peace.
"I am most pleased to be here since I could not come here last year to see the place where I skied in 1987," Tomba told a press conference in Sarajevo after visiting the ski centres on the Bjelasnica and nearby Igman mountains.
The race was Tomba's own idea and was seized upon by local sports officials hoping to reconstruct war-damaged winter sports venues in Sarajevo, which hosted the 1984 Winter Games.
Many of the sites were virtually destroyed in Bosnia's three-year war which ended last year.
The event will be financed mainly by sponsors, said Angello Bertocchi, the president of the Selvino Ski Club and one of the co-organisers.
Tomba said he was optimistic the event would be a success and put Sarajevo back on the sporting map.
Tomba also intends to help set up a sports youth centre at Bjelasnica which would bear his name.
