Azerbaijan’s Chef de Mission at Gymnasiade: “We’ll Return Home with Plenty of Medals”
“Azerbaijan is represented by 191 athletes — 100 boys and 91 girls,” said Elvin Zeynalli, Chef de Mission of the Azerbaijani national team at the ISF U15 Gymnasiade Sports Games, which kick off today in Zlatibor, Serbia.
Speaking to Idman.biz’s special correspondent, Zeynalli assessed the team’s chances and underlined that the primary goal is to help young athletes gain valuable experience:
“There are no foreign-born athletes in our squad — all are homegrown. One of our main objectives is to prepare the team for the upcoming CIS Games in Azerbaijan, while also aiming for stronger performances at future, more prestigious tournaments.”
Zeynalli expressed optimism about surpassing their previous achievements:
“At the last Gymnasiade held in Manama, Bahrain, our team claimed 77 medals and finished 7th overall. This time, we’re aiming even higher. The forecasts from sports federations are promising, and we’re confident that we’ll return home with a great number of medals.”
The Gymnasiade will run until April 12, featuring 2,742 athletes from 56 countries. Azerbaijan will compete in 18 sports disciplines, including:
Artistic Gymnastics (Novi Sad)
Archery, 3x3 Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Chess, Tennis (Zlatibor)
Badminton, Para Badminton, Swimming, Para Swimming, Table Tennis (Užice)
Taekwondo, Karate (Požega)
Judo, Wrestling (Lučani)
Fencing (Nova Varoš)
Athletics (Priboj)
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