Idman.biz
The VI Islamic Solidarity Games, held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, are coming to an end.
Idman.Biz reports that Chingiz Huseynzade, Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee, Second Vice-President of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), gave an interview to media representatives in Riyadh.
In his interview, the NOC official evaluated the results of Azerbaijani athletes at the VI Islamic Solidarity Games.
- Chingiz muallim, the VI Islamic Solidarity Games are about to end. How do you assess the performance of the Azerbaijani team?
- The results of the Azerbaijani team in these Games are weaker compared to previous years. Currently, we are in 10th place among the countries that won medals at the Islamic Games, and we can take a maximum of 9th place. This is the lowest result our country has shown so far in the Islamic Solidarity Games. These results remind me of the Rio Olympics. At that time, only one of the 18 medals we won was gold, and the number of silver medals prevailed. We see the same picture now. Azerbaijan is one of the countries with the most silver medals after the teams in the top three.
I must note that our athletes fought and demonstrated their skills, but the luck factor also played an important role.
Some athletes in our team simply did not get lucky. However, there were also brilliant performances. I would especially like to emphasize the game of our basketball girls. Our judo team also won a very confident victory in the team event.
In total, we have 8 gold medals, 5 of which were won by our female athletes. That is, our female athletes performed better than the boys in this competition, and this is a proud indicator for us.
- What can you say about the organizational issues of the VI Islamic Solidarity Games held in Riyadh?
- Except for some delays, other issues are generally in order. We are not comparing these Games with Baku-2017. Because the level of the competitions hosted by our capital was completely different and it would not be correct to compare it with other countries.
In general, the organization is not bad. According to the information I have, good conditions have been created for media representatives as well. The main transportation issues are resolved promptly during the Games. From this point of view, the organization of the competitions can be considered satisfactory.
- The next Islamic Games will be held in Malaysia. We would like to know your thoughts on this.
- The next Islamic Solidarity Games will be held in Malaysia, in one of the coastal regions of the country. Malaysia has a great experience in holding such events, so I think that the level of organization will be high. I hope we will achieve better results in those Games.
- How do you assess the level of sports development in Islamic countries in recent years?
- When we compare the first Islamic Solidarity Games with the competitions held today, we see very serious differences. Sports in Islamic countries are developing dynamically. For example, Saudi Arabia's winning 9 gold medals, the successful performance of the Bahrain team, especially their high results in athletics, clearly show this.
Most medals in such prestigious competitions are won in athletics and swimming. Unfortunately, the fact that these two sports have not reached the desired level in our country also affects the place we hold among the medal-winning countries.
