KYDON S.C. Blue Star Ferries CHANIA

Kydon Sports Club was founded in 1949 in the western Cretan city of Chania and is active today in eight sports: Athletics, basketball, volleyball, cycling, chess, weightlifting, gymnastics and handball. Forty Physical Education instructors train about 1,500 boys and girls daily in the competition and development departments of the club. Athletes of Kydon have participated, with Greece's National Teams, in Olympic Games, World and European Championships, Mediterranean Games and Balkan Championships.

Kydon is also very active in hosting and organising major international competitions every year, attracting hundreds of top-class athletes from dozens of countries from throughout the world:

• The Venizelia athletics tournament, which emerged the top competition of the European Athletic Association. in 2000.

• The Venizelia cycling tour.

• The Venizelia weightlifting tournament.

• International and domestic chess competitions.

In its general activities, Kydon has found invaluable help from the Ministry of Sports and the General Secretariat of Sports, the national governing bodies of each sport, the prefectural and municipal authorities, the Hellenic Tourism Organisation, the District of Crete, the Kokkalis Foundation, as well as the club's sponsors, Blue Star Ferries, the Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, the Public Power Company, the National Bank of Greece and several local enterprises.

Kydon Sports Club of Chania retains very close ties with the local community in Chania --a result of decades of continuous activity of the club in this town. Indeed, it may be difficult to find a citizen of Chania that is not connected or involved in one way or another with the club of Kydon.