The 2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade will begin Friday for 12 days of fierce competition.

Some 13-thousand athletes from 149 countries will compete for 272 gold medals in the largest Universiade games ever.
 
Star athletes from around the world have traveled to Gwangju including Belgian decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen who took gold at the 2013 Summer Universiade before being diagnosed and undergoing treatment for testicular cancer in 2014.
 
Representing the United States in basketball will be players from the University of Kansas Jayhawks, one of the oldest and most successful university basketball programs in history. The team has won the U.S.’ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship three times.

South Korea, which will field 382 athletes in 21 events, aims to reach third place overall with more than 25 gold medals. The host nation hopes to earn gold medals in shooting and badminton, on top of taekwondo and judo which are traditional South Korean strongholds.
 
Popular South Korean sports stars such as rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae, gymnast Yang Hak-seon and badminton player Lee Yong-dae are expected to draw audiences to the sports festival, which is considered by some to be a tune-up before the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
 
KBS will televise the opening ceremony of the games from 7:20 in the evening on KBS2.