Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

An international water polo tournament is underway in Mingachevir, Azerbaijan.

The tournament is dedicated to the 91^st anniversary of National leader Heydar Aliyev.

Co-organized by Azerbaijan's Water Sports Federation and country's Youth and Sports Ministry, the Presidential Cup is being held in the "Kur" recreation center.

The event was launched by Chief Executive of the city Niyazi Bayramov, who wished all the teams good luck.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Azerbaijan's Swimming Federation President Khanlar Fatiyev spoke about the European Games which will be held in Baku in 2015.

"The development of water sports in Azerbaijan is on the rise," he said. "The Swimming Federation, in turn, has used its capabilities to mobilize all forces to represent our country at the event."

Fatiyev said the international water polo tournament held in Mingachevir also serves this purpose.

"This year's tournament has brought six teams together, while only four teams were represented in the competition last year. We will constantly increase paying attention to water sports to generate the interest of young people in this sport," he added.

The tournament, featuring two Azerbaijani teams - one senior and one junior- as well as teams from Georgia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Hungary, will run until May 7.

The Cup is a preparatory event for the European Games 2015 in which these teams, except Uzbekistan, will be presented in the same compositions.

Last year, Azerbaijani team defeated the Russian team in the final segment of the game with a score of 16:13 (3:3, 5:4, 4:4, 4:2) and won the tournament. In the second match of the final round, the Belarusian team won against the Georgian team with a score of 17:9.

An international open swimming tournament dedicated to the memory of Heydar Aliyev will also be held in the Shirvan Olympic Complex on May 9-14.

Athletes from Russia, Georgia, Belarus, and Turkey are expected to participate in the tournament.