Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the President of the International Boxing Association (IBA) Umar Kremlev.
The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission for Coordinating the European Boxing Championship Arayik Harutyunyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Vahram Dumanyan, his Deputy Karen Giloyan, President of the European Boxing Confederation Ioannis Filippatos, President of the Armenian Boxing Association Hovhannes Hovsepyan and other officials.
In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister particularly said, “Dear Mr. Kremlev, dear colleagues, I welcome you. I am very glad that we are meeting on a very significant occasion for the Republic of Armenia, on the occasion of holding the European Boxing Championship in our country. To be honest, before the championship was organized, I did not even know that neither the European nor the World Championships of Olympic sports had been held in Armenia before, it was a very sad fact for us.
I would also like to thank you for entrusting our country with such a responsible event. I hope you are satisfied with the organizational level of the championship, and with the results of this event we will be sure that we can also host and organize the World Cup.
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Next year we are going to host the European Weightlifting Championships, and in general we have decided to try to host significant sporting events in our country every year. We look forward to your support in this matter. Yesterday I was there. To be honest, it may seem strange, but it was the first time I attended a boxing tournament of this level, since I never had such an opportunity in the past, it was quite interesting. I welcome you once again, I would like to hear your opinion on the level of organization, and on the championship in general.”
The President of the International Boxing Association thanked the Prime Minister for the warm words and noted, “Mr. Prime Minister, when Armenia initially submitted an application, and I know that Armenia is a country of boxing, I know that boxing is a beloved sport here, of course, Europe supported it. I came before the championship, I got acquainted with the works, I really thank you and your whole team, you organized the opening wonderfully, at a high level. Your example should be followed during the next European Championship.
The most important thing for us is the conditions for athletes and coaches. I talked to them once today, everyone is delighted with such a warm reception, the conditions created, that’s the most important thing. About 40 countries have arrived to take part in the championship, everyone is delighted: the opening, the accommodation, the food, the tours in Yerevan, everything is well organized. Once again, I would like to thank you personally and your team, everyone, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, the Federation of Armenia for the great work. It really shows that not only the European Championship can be held in Armenia, but also the issue of holding the World Cup can be observed, as there are all the conditions. You mentioned that this is the first time, but you can say that you opened the gates with this.”
Umar Kremlev noted that today the fights of the final round of the European Boxing Championship will take place, the tickets of which are completely sold out, which testifies to the great interest in this sport in Armenia and the high level of organization of the event. The President of the European Boxing Confederation also expressed satisfaction with the championship.
The prospects and challenges of sports development, as well as the holding of international tournaments, the development of sports infrastructure and the promotion of sports lifestyle were discussed at the meeting. The Prime Minister presented the consistent steps taken by the Government in the mentioned directions. The President of the IBA, in his turn, presented the programs of the association for the popularization of boxing, creation of conditions necessary for the professional growth of athletes, encouragement mechanisms, provision of infrastructure, adding that the IBA will support the development of sports in Armenia as much as possible.
The President of the International Boxing Association invited Prime Minister Pashinyan to watch today’s fights in the final round of the European Boxing Championship.