January 1st of 2018 marked an important event in the history of Armenian skiing: Anna Mkhitaryan, 21, from Ludvig Mnatsakanyan School of Winter Sports, Gyumri, won the 1st place – a gold medal in 10 km freestyle, FIS tournament, taken place at “Kandilli” sports base of Erzurum city, Turkey. The students of the same school have performed quite successfully as well – Anna Rashoyan, won the 6th place, Myasnik Gharibyan – the 7th, Nelly Khachatryan – the 12th.
FIS tournament, taken place at “Kandilli” sports base of Erzurum city, Turkey, which was carried out from December 31, 2017, to January 3, 2018, is regarded to be also the qualifying tournament of Winter Olympic Games 2018.
The director of Ludvig Mnatsakanyan School of Winter Sports of Gyumri, honored coach, Slavik Sargsyan told: “We have given the biggest Christmas gift to Armenian people. You cannot imagine my feelings when we won a gold medal on our ancestral lands, our national anthem played and our flag was raised. No bigger happiness could have taken place. They do not celebrate Christmas in Turkey, but seeing my excitement, during praying, they had taken my photograph from different positions and representatives from various nations were approaching me and saying – well done, this is the merriest Christmas for you. Of course, it was noticeable that Turkish people were annoyed, our girl took the 1st place, a Greek took the 2nd and a Turkish the 3rd. I should say honestly, I did not expect the 1st place. Our national school will celebrate its 40th year soon, but I do not remember us having won a gold medal from Turkey or having a girl winner in an international tournament”.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
