Azerbaijan is a sports country. It is already known by the whole world, the sports community. In Azerbaijan the purposeful policy connected with the sports, Olympic Movement is pursued. Large-scale international competitions have been held in our country for many years.
In AZERTAG interview, the deputy general secretary of NOC, the vice-president of Azerbaijan Weightlifting Federation- Azer Aliyev spoke on the results of sports year and the successes of our athletes.
– 2017, like 2016 was very successful in sports life of our country. What would you say first of all?
– Of course, the main sporting achievement should be considered the IV Islamic Solidarity Games held in Baku ,this year. It is known that we took the first place in these competitions having surpassed the strongest Turkey team in medal account. We demonstrated that in Azerbaijan, we can successfully organize any international competitions, such as First European Games took place in Baku two years ago and the Islamic Games organized at the high level.
Along with other achievements, we were delighted by the soccer team “Karabakh”. For the first time, in the history of the Azerbaijani soccer, our team appeared in the group stage of the Champions League of UEFA. Aghdam club showed a worthy game in matches with eminent rivals – “Chelsea”, “Rome” and “Atletico”. And nobody expected two draws with the Madrid club. Bravo, they were able to play good games.
Besides, we also had success in individual types of sports. Mohammedrasul Majidov in boxing, Haji Aliyev in wrestling, were three-time world champions. Also, I would like to remind you that Formula-1 races were held for the second time in Baku. Many people named a current race the most interesting and the best of this season. So sports year was successful for Azerbaijan.
– What can you say about the “Sport for All” project realized by you? What is the purpose of that project? What has been done so far?
– This project has been created on the basis of the “Agenda-2020” which is an initiative of the International Olympic Committee. “Agenda” contains 40 recommendations on anti-doping, gender equality, the Olympic education, and other issues. This year, Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee created the commission in connection with this agenda. We have considered what recommendations are necessary for us. It was decided that gender equality is the first issue that we should address. As you know, girls’ sport activities in Azerbaijan are not widespread. There are certain traditions, restrictions. We decided to create a television program called “Sports for All” to promote sports among girls. But besides development of gender equality in sport, we are striving to promote a healthy lifestyle for all. The program is called: “Sport for All”. This means that all-boys, girls, young people, and the elderly should also be engaged in sports, and everyone should live a healthy lifestyle. This is a main objective. Now we have a second season. Plots on bicycle sport and judo were demonstrated. This program takes place every Sunday on Space channel at 12:00pm.
– In recent years, there is progress in weightlifting. What measures will be taken for the further development of this sport in our country?
– Indeed, weightlifting competitions of IV Islamic Solidarity Games were very successful for us. We won 4 medals-1 gold and 3 bronze. Unfortunately, due to doping, our federation, as well as structures of 8 countries, were disqualified. We cannot perform in international competitions. The aim of the federation is to train young athletes who can represent our country in “Tokyo-2020” or “Paris-2024” Olympiads. I think we have a great potential in this kind of sport that we showed it in the European championship among U-15, in Kosovo. Our athletes took the first place in the overall team account. We want our young athletes to increase their professionalism.
– Summer Youth Olympic Games will be held in Baku in 2019.How is the preparation for this Game?
– This year Hungary hosted such a competition. It was really spectacular. For young athletes it was the first opportunity to participate in such international scale competitions. I am very glad that the next Summer Youth Olympic Games will be held in Baku, in 2019. There is an infrastructure for the First European Games and Islamiada, we have accumulated some experiences. I don’t think that there will be some difficulties in organizing this event. It’s almost ready for those games.
I want to remind that next year Judo World Championship will be held in Azerbaijan. Our athletes regularly win medals, whether in sports, in boxing, in wrestling or in judo. and we hope that this will continue.
Next February there will also be the Winter Olympic Games in Korea. Winter sports have not improved so much in our country. At these Games, Azerbaijan will be represented by only one person- mountain skier. We hope that he will achieve good results.
I am confident that the next sports year will be successful for us. Because sport is constantly developing in Azerbaijan, the professionalism of our athletes is getting increased.
– Thank you for the interesting conversation.
