Baku, Azerbaijan, May 9
By Jamilya Aliyeva - Trend:
Europe is lucky to have Azerbaijan organising inaugural European Games, Head of the Lithuanian delegation to the European Games Einius Petkus told Trend May 9.
"The Games are held for the first time in Europe, finally we have an event where athletes of different sports from the whole continent can compete," he said. "It is a challenge, but a very interesting and exiting one. I think that European Games will contribute to more Olympic medals for European athletes."
He went on to add that everything is being organised in a very professional way and all facilities are very good and they could serve as a benchmark for other Games.
"The Organising Committee is doing it's best to assure that all venues are completely ready and efficient for use during the Games," Petkus said.
"We are sure that our athletes will have very good conditions to train and compete. The city is beautiful, arenas are impressive. It is obvious that sport is very important to this country and our delegation is looking forward to visiting it."
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.