ARMENIA IN TALKS ON WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP IN BAKU
Elmir Aliyev
News.Az
Tue 26 January 2010 | 12:28 GMT
Armenia and Azerbaijan are discussing arrangements for the Armenian
team to compete in the world youth boxing championship in Baku
in April.
The championship in Baku is a qualifying event for the first Youth
Olympic Games to be held in Singapore in the summer. A team that
does not take part in the Baku championship will not be able to go
to the games.
Tbilisi recently hosted a meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
sides to thrash out the details of a possible visit by the Armenian
national team to Baku.
"The Armenians asked the International Amateur Boxing Association
to issue them licences [to qualify for Singapore] without their
participation in the world championship, but the AIBA refused," said
Chingiz Huseynzade, a participant in the negotiations in Tbilisi and
vice-president of Azerbaijan’s National Olympic Committee.
"The AIBA said that licences must be acquired in competition to
compete in the Olympic Games. You see, the Armenian side is not in
a good state now. After the triumph of Azerbaijan’s judo fighters in
the European championship in Yerevan, the Armenian sporting community
will demand the same success of their boxers in Baku but it will not
be so easy to get the same results. Anyway, the negotiations with
the Armenian side are continuing."