Last Sunday (August 8) marked two years before the Games are due to commence, and the volunteer portal opened to coincide with the landmark.

Applications are now open to become a volunteer or a recruiter responsible for interviewing candidates between January 2022 and January 2023.

Volunteers must be aged 18 or over come the Games, and are required to apply through the official website.

The volunteer application process is open until January 2023, and organisers are seeking approximately 11,000 volunteers across 34 different functional areas to help with the running of the World University Games.

Around 6,000 volunteers are expected to be recruited from the Sverdlovsk Region, of which Yekaterinburg is the administrative centre, roughly 4,000 from the rest of Russia and 200 from abroad.

The application process involves online tests and an interview, in which candidates' skills, knowledge, foreign-language fluency and previous experience will be assessed.

Those successful will be allocated a functional area, and undertake online training.

Alexander Chernov, Yekaterinburg 2023 general director, explained that becoming a volunteer is a great way to get involved with the World University Games.

"Volunteers are an integral part of any sports event," he said.

"It is they who, giving away the most valuable thing - their time - become the soul of the competition.

"At the Games, you will have a chance to prove yourself in a variety of ways and get a unique experience that will definitely help in the future."

The Yekaterinburg 2023 Summer World University Games are scheduled to take place from August 8 to 19.

The event was last held in Naples in 2019, while Chengdu 2021, which was due to take place this August, has been postponed until 2022 because of COVID-19.