Baku to welcome 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games in May
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan’s capital Baku will host the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games on May 12-22, 2017, said Chingiz Huseynzade, the Vice President of the National Olympic Committee .
Baku is now hosting ninth General Assembly session of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation.
“Azerbaijan is taking all necessary steps to host the Islamic Games,” said Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov addressing the event, adding that the Organizing Committee has been created for this purpose.
The minister noted that Azerbaijan has great experience in holding such international sporting events.
Stressing the successful hosting of the first European Games and other large-scale international events in Azerbaijan, Rahimov expressed his confidence that the Islamic Solidarity Games will be another sport festive in Azerbaijan.
The Games will bring together more than 5,000 athletes.
The official opening ceremony and closing of the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games will be held at the Baku Olympic Stadium.
The decision to hold the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku was made at the eighth General Assembly of the ISSF in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in July 2013.
The Games, which will bring together athletes from 57 countries, will be held under the slogan “Solidarity is our power”. More than 160 Azerbaijani sportsmen are expected to participate in the Games. The Muslim religion of all athletes is not a pre-condition for participation in the competition.
The Islamic Solidarity Games is a multinational, multi-sport event involving the elite athletes of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, which is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN with 57 member states spread over four continents.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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