Azerbaijan, Baku, April 30 / Trend M.Aliyev /
More than 50 Azerbaijani sportsmen have won the right to participate at XXX London Olympics.
If at the Summer Olympics in Beijing Azerbaijan was represented in 11 sports and 44 athletes won 39 licenses, at the London Olympics Azerbaijan will be represented in 16 sports, the Ministry of Youth and Sports told Trend on Monday. These are boxing, athletics, taekwondo, shooting, canoeing, rowing, Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling (men's, women's), cycling, gymnastics, weightlifting (men's, women's), gymnastics, equestrian, fencing, judo, swimming.
In general, Azerbaijani sportsmen will take part in additional five sports - canoeing, rowing, cycling, gymnastics and fencing at the London Summer Olympics compared to the summer Olympics in Beijing.
If at the Olympic Games in Beijing Azerbaijan was represented only by one judge (wrestling - Hijran Sharifov), in the Olympic Games in London three Azerbaijani judges - (Ajdar Jafarov, Hijran Sharifov - wrestling, Vahid Nazarov - weightlifting) will participate.
There is an opportunity to win the license also in such sports as women's boxing, open water swimming, wrestling, field hockey, trap shooting and archery for a short time.
New athletes will participate in the competitions.
If at the last Summer Olympics Azerbaijan was represented by Rashad Ahmedov in taekwondo, Azerbaijan will be represented by young athletes Ramin Azizov and Farida Azizova this year.
Valery Demyanenko will represent Azerbaijan in canoeing (at a distance of 200 meters), Sergei Prokopenko and Maxim Bezugly (at a distance of 1,000 meters). Alexander Alexandrov will represent Azerbaijan in rowing (at a distance of 2,000 meters) and Natalia Mustafayeva (at a distance of 2,000 meters). Elena Chalykh will represent Azerbaijan in road cycling.
For the first time Azerbaijan will be represented by sportswoman in weightlifting.
In addition, Shakir Shikhaliev successfully performed in gymnastics for the first time and was able to win a license for the Olympic Games.
Sabina Mikina will fight for victory in fencing.
The number of athletes in individual sports increased compared to the previous Olympic Games.
For example, Azerbaijan will be represented by six athletes (at the last Olympics - five) in weightlifting, in wrestling- 12 and six more licenses are expected (last Olympics - 16), in the box - seven (at the last Olympics - two), and seven sportsmen in judo (at the last Olympics - six).