Baku; 30 April 2013: The First Lady of Azerbaijan and Chair of Baku 2015, Mehriban Aliyeva, today announced that the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural European Games will be held on Friday 12 June 2015, and the Closing Ceremony on Sunday 28 June 2015.
The announcement came at a press conference to mark the end of the EOC Coordination Commission’s first visit to Baku, where the 17 European Federations that have signed with Baku 2015 were also announced by the EOC President, Patrick Hickey, and the Coordination Commission Chairman, Spyros Capralos.
The initially selected sports for the Baku 2015 European Games are:
Archery
Aquatics
Badminton
Basketball
Canoe & Kayak
Cycling
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics
Judo
Karate
Shooting
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Triathlon
Volleyball
Wrestling
The Opening and Closing Ceremony dates were drawn up with the full approval of the European Federations of the sports mentioned above.
Commenting on these milestone announcements, President Patrick Hickey said:
“We have been overwhelmed with the demand for places by European Federations for the European Games in 2015.
“However, we have a clear long-term strategic vision for the European Games in terms of size and affordability and we have been very careful about the sports we have chosen.
“This has resulted in a very attractive Sports Programme for 2015 and a large number of sports are on the waiting list for the next European Games in 2019.
“We are still in discussions with the athletics and boxing federations which we hope to finalise in the coming weeks.”
Details on the disciplines available in various sports and information about athlete numbers will be finalised in the coming months, following further consultation with European Federations.
Chairman of the Coordination Commission, Spyros Capralos said:
“We have had two days of very productive meetings with the Local Organising Committee and are satisfied with the progress they have made since being awarded the Games in December 2012.
“The sport facilities are world class and the Athletes Village is one of the best we have ever seen. These Games will be centred on the athletes and will create a new generation of stars for Europe.
“However there is much work to be done, there are only two years left and the Coordination Commission will be closely monitoring the progress of Baku 2015 in the months ahead.”
