Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The leading international sporting event 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio will see more than 60 strongest Azerbaijani athletes.

Commenting about the country’s flag-bearer at the Rio 2016, Youth and Sport Ministry Azad Rahimov earlier said that in case boxer Teymur Mammadov wins in World qualifier held in Baku this June, he could bear the national flag.

The result was not long in coming, as Chingiz Huseynzade, Vice-president of the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee said on Friday that Mammadov will be the country’s flag-bearer at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

In the 1/4 final of the Baku World qualifier, bronze medalist of London Olimpics Mammadov had to fight against the representative of Morocco, Hassan Saad. But his Moroccan opponent did not come out to the ring. Thus, the Azerbaijani boxer made his way to the semifinals, securing nine license in this sport to Azerbaijan.

Huseynzade noted that Mammadov will be officially inaugurated in this position a week before the opening of the Olympic Games.

Appositely, Azerbaijan is leading in the number of boxer representatives to Rio 2016 among 64 countries. For the first time, Azerbaijan will compete at this sport in full force.

The major international event will take place in Brazilian Rio de Janeiro from August 5 to August 21. More than 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees are expected to join this big sporting event.

Azerbaijan has secured qualifications in wrestling, gymnastics, rowing, boxing, taekwondo, athletics, weightlifter, Paralympics sports and more.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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