Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Youth and Sports has announced the names of the best Azerbaijani athletes in 2019.

In a ceremony held at the Azerbaijan State Physical Culture and Sports Academy to sum up the results of the sports achievements of 2019, the following athletes were named the best sportsmen of the year: Rostislav Pevtsov (world champion and winner of the Triathlon European Cup), Nazim Babayev (winner of European Athletics Indoor Championships ), Teymur Radjabov (winner of the Chess World Cup), Milad Beigi Harchegani (winner of the World Taekwondo Championships), Haji Aliyev (European Freestyle Wrestling Championships), Maria Stadnik (World Wrestling champion), Rustam Orujov (vice-champion of Judo World Championships), Zohra Agamirova (vice-champion of the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Universiade), Elchin Asadov (holder of the Olympic license for cycling), Ramal Aslanov (winner of World Kickboxing championships), Aynur Mammadova (Paralympic Taekwondo World Champion).

At the same time, the ministry named the best coaches of the year. In particular, Ziyad Khalfaev (coach of Nazim Babayev), Rashad Akhmedov (senior coach of the Azerbaijani Taekwondo team), Akbar Muradov (head coach of the Azerbaijani Paralympic bullet shooting team) were recognized as the best coaches of the year.

Emin Gurbanaliev (boxing), Fariz Huseynov (judo) and Asif Shiraliev (wrestling) were recognized as the best Azerbaijani judges.

Azerbaijani women's chess team, which won European Championship bronze medal was name the country’s best team.

The Judo Federation was recognized as the best sports federation of Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation was recognized as the best organizer of sports competitions.

It is worth noting that Azerbaijani athletes won 775 medals at international competitions in 2019, while 372 of them were won in Olympic sports.

Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov noted that Azerbaijani athletes achieved great achievements in 2019.

"The flag of Azerbaijan at international competitions this year averaged twice a day," he said.

In addition, Rahimov noted there will be even more trials ahead of Azerbaijani athletes, as they will have to compete for Olympic licenses and participate in the Tokyo Olympics.

"Presently, Azerbaijan has 14 Olympic licenses. In this regard, I will underline the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation, which has won the maximum number of licenses... Also, our swimmer won the license for the Olympics for the first time," the minister said.

In 2020, Azerbaijan will host a number of major international competitions, including the EURO 2020 matches, the fifth stage of Formula 1, the European Championship in gymnastics and many others.

Azerbaijan has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's national sport, however today, the most popular sports in Azerbaijan are football and chess. Other popular sports are gymnastics, judo, futsal, weightlifting, and boxing.

Azerbaijan's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Water sports are practiced on the Caspian Sea and in inland waters.

Azerbaijan is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), European Athletics Association (EAA), International Olympic Committee (IOC), among many others. It has also hosted the first European Games and 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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