"Foreign athletes are mostly in sports that are new to us," said Farid Gayibov, the Minister of Youth and Sports, during his annual meeting with journalists.
Idman.biz reports that Gayibov commented on the role of foreign athletes in representing Azerbaijan's national teams: "Young athletes need to learn from professional athletes. That’s why I think it’s okay to invite foreign athletes. However, there was a time when their number grew too large. Frankly, I didn’t understand that. We are working with federations to reduce the number of foreign athletes. I can say that their numbers have decreased significantly."
The minister also acknowledged the need for foreign athletes in combat sports' heavy categories: "But we still have issues in heavy sports, where we don’t have enough athletes. The selection process needs improvement. Unfortunately, we lack specialists. We are working to address this."
Gayibov touched on the shortage of specialists: " Unfortunately, we lack specialists. We are working to address this. As you know, good specialists don’t emerge quickly. We also want to make some changes at the Sports Academy. That’s why we are first inviting specialists from abroad. Everything is developing rapidly, and the systems are different. We need to train more local specialists, so there is more competition. Then, even if foreign athletes are brought in, our local athletes will be better than them."
He also clarified the process of naturalizing foreign athletes: " They ask for our permission when inviting foreign athletes. However, the rules and conditions have become much stricter."
Idman.biz
