Rome; 11 March 2015:
The National Olympic Committee of Armenia (NOCA) today issued final confirmation of its participation in the inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, this June, in an announcement welcomed by European Olympic Committees (EOC) President Patrick Hickey.
The announcement came after NOCA’s Executive Board officially ratified the decision to accept the EOC’s invitation to the Baku 2015 European Games. Armenian athletes will be competing in six sports at Baku 2015, taking their place amongst more than 6,000 other athletes from across the EOC’s 50 member European National Olympic Committees.
In October 2014, EOC President Hickey travelled to Armenia alongside IOC President Thomas Bach to discuss the country’s participation in the European Games with the Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan. President Hickey said today:
“This is great news for the European Games and for Armenian sport, and I want to congratulate the National Olympic Committee for taking this decision.
“From the start I have very been confident that this would be the end outcome as Armenia is a passionate sports country and an important member of the European Olympic family. The presence of their athletes at Baku 2015 will certainly contribute to the success of the inaugural European Games.”
NOCA President, Gagik Tsarukyan, said: “We are very pleased to confirm our participation in the first European Games. We know that Armenian athletes will have the best possible facilities and support available to them at Baku 2015, helping them reach their peak performance this summer.
“My Executive Board took this decision based on sporting reasons alone; it is important to keep sport independent from politics. We have already started organising our team for the Games. We will make further announcements about our preparations in due course. But I can say now that this was the best decision for the future of sport in our country.
“Finally I am very grateful to IOC President Thomas Bach and EOC President Patrick Hickey and for the support and encouragement they have provided which has directly led to this positive decision today.”
Baku 2015 will take place from 12 – 28 June and feature 17 days of competition. Of the 20 sports on the Sports Programme, 12 of them will offer qualification opportunities for athletes to Rio 2016.
