Baku, July 21, AZERTAC

Ahead of the 15th Summer European Youth Olympic Festival, the Operations Committee has held a press conference on final preparations.

The event brought together Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan Azad Rahimov, vice president of the National Olympic Committee Chingiz Huseynzade,

President of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Janez Kocijančič, EOC Secretary General Raffaele Pagnozzi, and EOC Coordination Commission Chair Djordje Visacki.

Minister Azad Rahimov said that the sport venues which will host the competitions, as well as the Athletes Village are fully ready for the festival.

Baku 2019 will feature seven days of competition in 10 sports at 12 competition venues, all of which are already existing, making this edition of the EYOF also one of the most sustainable. Wrestling will join the EYOF programme for the first time this year.

Some 3,600 athletes and team officials from all 48 ENOCs are expected to take part, assisted by 2,500 volunteers. The EYOF is the leading European multi-sport event for young athletes aged 14 to 18.

During the press conference journalists were introduced with the summary of preparation works, overall statistics, as well as it was noted that there is a high interest in the Festival and, as a result, Opening and Closing Ceremony tickets are sold out.