Winners of Youth Olympic Games awarded by NOC
By Amina Nazarli
Azerbaijani sportsmen, who successfully participated in the second Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China were awarded by the National Olympic Committee (NOC).
Alongside with the sportsmen, Vice-President of NOC, Youth and Sport Minister Azad Rahimov was awarded by the Olympic Order.
Azerbaijan's team comprised of 21 athletes competed in 9 events, namely athletics, shooting, judo, wrestling, taekwando, swimming, boxing, archery, rowing. They made a great job in the competition attended by up to 3,700 athletes aged 15-18 from more than 200 countries.
Startling victories of Azerbaijani sportsmen in the Olympic Games, one after another became a big success for the country.
Azerbaijan's team finished the Olympic Games with a haul of 12 medals, namely five gold medals (taekwondo fighter Said Guliyev, wrestler Islambek Dadov, boxer Rufat Huseynov, wrestler Teymur Mammadov and wrestler Igbal Hajizada), six silver medals (judo fighter Natig Gurbanli, judo fighter Leyla Aliyeva, taekwondo fighter Ceren Ozbek, rower Boris Yotov, wrestler Jabbar Najafov and wrestler Leyla Gurbanova) and one bronze medal (athlete Nazim Babayev).
With these victories, Azerbaijan secured the 10th place in the Olympics, the sixth place among European, the third place among CIS countries and the first among Muslim countries.
Azerbaijani athletes improved their results significantly at the second games. At the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, Azerbaijan ended up with five gold and three silver medals ranking 11th.
Earlier, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aiyev received members of the national team.
President Aliyev signed an order to give awards to these athletes and their coaches for their performances at the Summer Youth Olympic Games.
Under the order, each athlete who won the first place received 50,000 manat, his coach - 25,000 manat, each athlete who took the second place received 30,000 manat, his coach - 15,000 manat, each athlete who got a bronze medal received 20,000 manat, his coach - 10,000 manat.