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National Olympic Committee holds General Assembly in Baku

3 April 2013 18:50 (UTC+04:00)
National Olympic Committee holds General Assembly in Baku

By Nigar Orujova

A General Assembly of Azerbaijan's National Olympic Committee was held in the capital Baku on Wednesday and joined by members of the NOC, representatives of the Olympic and non-Olympic sports federations, sports organizations and government agencies.

Elections to the NOC Executive Committee were held at the meeting. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva were re-elected to the Committee.

According to a decision of the General Assembly, the new staff of the Executive Committee was not changed. Rector of the Academy of Physical Culture and Sports and Vice President of the Boxing Federation, Aghajan Abiyev, was re-elected Secretary General, while Chingiz Huseynzade, Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov and Khazar Isayev were re-elected as vice presidents.

Also re-elected to the Committee were the founder of the Baku Museum of Miniature Books, Board Chairperson of the "Book" Society of Azerbaijan Zarifa Salakhova, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Ismayil Ismayilov, Head of the Sports Health Complex Sadig Sadigov, Honored Master of Sports Alekper Mammadov, Olympic champion Namig Abdullayev, Vice President of the Volleyball Federation Faig Garayev, Army Sports Club head Natig Aliyev, MP and First Vice President of the soccer governing body AFFA Rauf Aliyev, and Minister of Youth and Sports of Nakhchivan Azad Jabarov, as well as athletes Rafiqa Shabanova and Zemfira Meftakhetdinova.

Huseynzade delivered a report on the Committee's activity in the last four years and spoke about the progress made during this period. He stressed the achievements of Azerbaijani sportsmen at the Summer Olympic Games held in London in 2012, great victories of Azerbaijani athletes in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, as well as the decision of the European Olympic Committee to hold the first European Olympic Games in Baku in 2015, and Baku's bid to host the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017.

"The Olympic movement has developed in Azerbaijan over the last four years. Great results have been achieved. Azerbaijan participated in three Olympic Games -- the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Summer Olympic Games in London, and Youth Olympic Games in Singapore during the reporting period. The Azerbaijani Olympic team has achieved significant results. It is a top priority to maintain and increase these results," Huseynzade said.

Huzeynzade added that the number of international sports events organized in Azerbaijan has increased in the four-year period.

As part of international cooperation, memorandums of understanding have been signed with Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Belarus.

Speaking to journalists, Huzeynzade noted that NOC expects wrestling to be left in the Olympic program, which will be discussed at the 125th International Olympic Committee session in Buenos Aires in September.

"I hope this issue will be settled positively and wrestling will remain in the Olympic program. Azerbaijan is hopeful for it," he said.

IOC recommended to exclude wrestling from the Summer Olympic Games 2020 in February.

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