Baku, Azerbaijan, May 16
By Jamilya Aliyeva - Trend:
The European Games in Baku are of great importance not only for Azerbaijan but for the entire region, First Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Georgia, head of the Georgian mission to the European Games Baku 2015 Elguja Berishvili told Trend.
"Azerbaijan has earned the right to hold the first, historic European Games," he said. "The country pays great attention to sports, it has well-developed sports infrastructure, Azerbaijani athletes successfully perform at all competitions, including the most important ones - the Olympic Games."
Azerbaijan prepares to host European Games at the highest level, according to Berishvili.
"We hope that the Games to be held by Azerbaijan, a friendly and neighboring country, will get the highest score," he said. "After the Games in Baku, Tbilisi will host the European Youth Olympic Festival. This event doesn't have such a sporting level as the one in Baku, but the 50 European countries will arrive in Georgia to take part in this festival. Thus, our region becomes the center of sport in Europe."
Berishvili also expressed hope that Georgia will show good results at the Games.
"Some 105 athletes in 17 disciplines of 13 sports will take part in the European Games in Baku, our strongest wrestlers and fighters will participate in the competitions," he said.
Baku 2015 is the first-ever European Games, an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent that will take place on June 12-28, 2015.
There will be a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition.
Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.