OFFICIAL NEWS
PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN, PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE ILHAM ALIYEV MEETS WITH WINNERS OF 9TH EUROPEAN YOUTH OLYMPIC FESTIVAL
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met Monday with winners of the 9th European Youth Olympic Festival. The Head of State noted that Azerbaijani athletes have taken top places in the international competitions over recent years. Young athletes were success in the 9th European Youth Olympic Festival, ranking sixth in the team event among 49 countries. Azerbaijani athletes bagged 7 gold medals in 11 disciplines.
The President said:
“Our meetings with sportsmen in the National Olympic Committee have become traditional. We met here at different times, shared joy of the sportsmen’s victories and talked about their future.
The reason why we have gathered here today is also very pleasant. Our junior athletes have succeeded in the big international European tournament, the 9th European Youth Olympic Festival, taking the sixth place. Ranking sixth among nearly fifty countries is indeed a great result.
Our athletes have won seven gold medals in this Festival. It is a high result. As I was informed, the teams ahead of us were Russia, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Ukraine, the countries with population exceeding Azerbaijan’s several times.
Of course, taking the sixth place shows that junior sport is on a very high level in Azerbaijan. I am very pleased with that. Special attention has been paid to development of children’s and junior sport in Azerbaijan. Those are our future. On the one hand, young generation is growing up, and on the other hand, our young people show great interest in sports. And our goal is to bring up healthy young generation. Doing so requires that the work in sport clubs be well organized as well as federations, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the National Olympic Committee, other institutions, in other word, the entire sport community concentrate on the same point.
Today, there are very good opportunities for the people in Azerbaijan to go in for sport. Modern sport complexes have been built and put into operation in various regions of Azerbaijan: over ten of them are already functioning, while construction of up to twenty more has either begun or is to begin soon.
Azerbaijan is a venue for various international competitions. Over the past years, Azerbaijan has hosted European and world championships among both juniors and seniors. It demonstrates the trust and respect the international sporting community shows to Azerbaijan.
I would also like to note that the countries we left behind in the European Youth Olympic Festival also have huge sporting potential. Those are Belgium, Romania, Poland, France, Holland, Hungary, Serbia, Latvia, Croatia, Georgia, Slovakia, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Austria, Belarus, Israel, Finland, Norway, Bosnia, Czekhia, Greece and Luxemburg.
Armenian team took the last place in the competition. It failed to win a single gold, silver or bronze medal. This is our superiority, and this is the result of our activities.
The President expressed hope that young Azerbaijani sportsmen will further succeed in other international tournaments, including the Olympic games.”