Azerbaijani rowers to join European Championship
By Amina Nazarli
A squad of Azerbaijan’s national kayak and canoe team will represent the country in the European Canoe Sprint Seniors Championship to be held in Racice, the Czech Republic on May 1-3.
Six Azerbaijani rowers will participate in the three-day competition. Some 846 participants from 35 countries will compete for the best title.
Four-time canoe World champion and four-time European champion Valentin Demyanenko will compete in the single men boat race - [C1] 200 meters. Anatoliy Melnik will compete in the single men boat race - [C1] 500 meters and 1,000 metes competitions, while duo: Aleksey Kupin and European champion Sergey Bezgliy will stand in the double men boat race - [C2] 500 meters and 1,000 meters.
Olympic champion kayaker Inna Osipenko-Radomskaya will also take part in the competition. Inna will compete in the single women boat race - [K-1] 200 meters, 500 meters and 5,000 meters distances. Another talented kayaker Mirnazim Javadov will join the single men boat race competition - [K-1] 200 meters and 500 meters distances.
The team coaches are Aleksanrd Kolibelnikov, Anatoli Dudnik and Dmitriy Radomski. Rovshan Karimov, the executive director of the National Rowing Federation will lead the delegation.
The names of all participants were announced according to the Presidential Cup test rowing competition in academic, kayaking and canoeing categories, held in Azerbaijan’s Mingechevir region on April 3-5.
The European Canoe Sprint Championship is expected to be a serious experience ahead of the 1st European Games to be held in Baku on June 12 – 28, 2015.
The event in Baku will include 20 sports, 16 of which are Olympic. Some 6,000 athletes will prove themselves in Azerbaijan’s capital. The kayak and canoe sport is scheduled for June 14-16.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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