BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 14. We must try to ensure anyway that Azerbaijani athletes show good results in international competitions not only in individual but also in team sports, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said receiving members of the Azerbaijan national minifootball team who won the European Championship in Slovakia, Trend reports.
"I think that this victory will go down in the history of
Azerbaijani sports because our country has become a European
champion in team sports for the first time, and this victory has
been won by you, by our national team in minifootball.
A lot has been done for the development of sports in Azerbaijan,
but we had not achieved great success in team sports prior to this.
It is true that our chess players have twice been European
champions, but chess is an individual sport, and our chess players
who played as a team have made this great achievement. However,
there has been no such victory in game sports. Therefore, this
victory has a great meaning, and I am sure that it is a great
example for other sports.
It is true that it will not be easy for anyone to emulate this historic success, but we must try to ensure anyway that Azerbaijani athletes show good results in international competitions not only in individual but also in team sports. As you may know, we have had great successes in individual sports, the number of Olympic, world and European champions is high, and I am sure it will further increase. Thus, the development of team sports will enable sport to develop comprehensively," the head of state said.