Azerbaijan wins silver at European Rowing Championships
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijan's national team won one silver medal at the European Rowing Championships, held in Serbian Belgrade on May 30 - June 1.
Country's National Rowing Federation said the duo of Alexander Alexandrov - Boris Yotov won the silver medal passing 2000 meters on a pair-oar boat.
Putting behind other teams on the piece of 1500 meter, they however arrived as the second team with the result of 6 minutes 9.36 seconds. Thus, 24-years-old Alexandrov and 18-years-old Yotov became the first Azerbaijani athletes, who entered the top three winners of the European Championships.
Lithuanian duo of Rolandas Maskinskas - Saulius Ritter became the winners of the event, scoring 6 minutes 8.82 seconds, while German duo of Hans Gruhne - Stefan Krüger became the third.
Rowing is one of the oldest Olympic sports. It has been held since 1900. Women's rowing was added to the Olympic program in 1976. Each year the World Rowing Championships is held by FISA with 22 boat classes raced.
The European Rowing Championships are held annually, along with three World Rowing Cups in which each event earns a number of points for a country towards the World Cup title. Since 2008, rowing has also been competed at the Paralympic Games.