Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, is bidding to host the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) in 2017, Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov told media on Saturday.

The ISG executive body will make a final decision in September. Azerbaijan is the only country so far to have put forward its candidacy for hosting the Games.

"Baku is to host the World Chess Cup in 2015 and Chess Olympiad in 2016. Currently, Azerbaijan has claimed for hosting the fourth Islamic sport games in 2017. The country is also preparing to host the first European Olympic Games in 2015," Rahimov said.

According to Rahimov, around 40 new Olympic centers and many other sports facilities have been built in Azerbaijan.

"Currently, construction of large sports complexes, an Olympic stadium and gymnastics and water sport centers is underway in Baku. All this allows us to host major international sporting events in Azerbaijan in the future," the minister said, citing this as evidence of Azerbaijan's turning into one of the world's sport centers.

The Islamic Solidarity Games is a multinational, multi-sport event involving the elite athletes of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN with 57 member states spread over four continents.

The first of the ISG tournaments was held in 2005 in Saudi Arabia with an Olympic-style tournament aimed at showing Muslim sports prowess and featuring 6,000 athletes. Non-Muslim citizens in the member countries are also allowed to take part in the Games.

Azerbaijan gained four gold, four silver and seven bronze medals at the first ISG, thus becoming the eighth country in the medal table.

The second event, originally scheduled to take place in October 2009 in Iran, and later re-scheduled for April 2010, was canceled after a dispute emerged between Iran and the Arab countries. The third Games will take place in Indonesia in 2013.