First lady named Sports Personality of the Year

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijan’s First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva has been named the Sports Personality of the Year by the Azerbaijan Sports Journalists Association.

The chairperson of the Baku 2015 European Games Organizing Committee, that was successfully held in the Azerbaijani capital this June, heads the Organizing Committee of the forthcoming IV Islamic Solidarity Games, to be held in Baku in May 2017.

The first lady is also the president of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation that has recently achieved great success both in the inaugural European Games and winning licenses to the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Azerbaijani gymnasts won seven medals at the Games in Baku.

Next year, Azerbaijani gymnasts Oleg Stepko and Marina Durunda will compete for medals to the country in Rio.

The ASJA further named the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AzerTAc) the best news agency that has covered sports events throughout the year.

The Team of the Year award was given to Qarabag football club, the men’s national boxing team and the national taekwondo team.

The ASJA announced the coach of the national boxing team Pedro Roque, the Qarabag football club’s manager Gurban Gurbanov, and the coach of the national taekwondo team Reza Mehmandoust as the Head Coaches of the Year.

This year was remembered with grand sport achievements in Azerbaijan, which brought together over 6,000 athletes from around Europe to compete in 20 sports, and became the second in the overall ranking with 21 gold, 15 silver and 20 bronze medals.