Tag Archives: sport

European Games to cost $8b Azerbaijan

NOV. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan will spend an estimated $8b putting on the inaugural European Games next year, media reported, making it one of the most expensive international sports tournaments.

Most people in Azerbaijan support the government’s drive to host the games, which it will also use to showcase the country, but they also told the Bulletin that $8b was too extravagant and that an array of social problems, from low pensions to still crumbling healthcare and education systems needed the cash more urgently.

“This is ridiculous,” said Shahin Gasimov, 64, a retired teacher.

“I receive $200 pension a month. Spending $8b on the Games is not fair.”

Guler Hajiyeva, 22, a graduate student agreed. She said: “I’m sure that we did not need this in Baku. What we need is a better healthcare system, a quality education.”

However, Rauf Gulamov 32, an entrepreneur said that he thought the European Games will improve Azerbaijan’s international standing.

“I don’t know how much money would be fair to spend for this games. Maybe $8b is a lot, maybe not but I am sure that we need the Games and that they will be good.”

The Baku 2015 European Games will feature 16 Olympic and four non-Olympic sports. Alongside traditional sports such as athletics, swimming and gymnastics, new sports such as 3×3 basketball, beach soccer and karate will also be showcased.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)

Kazakh Capital Bank signs Arsenal

NOV. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh bank Capital Bank signed a deal with top-tier London-based football club Arsenal to use its branding on a new debit card.The deal underlines the confidence and ambition of Kazakh companies. This is the first deal between a Premier League team and a Kazakh company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)

Armenia to go to Baku Games

NOV. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a sign of improving Azerbaijani- Armenian relations, Armenia said that it would send a team to participate at the inaugural European Games in Baku next year. Armenia and Azerbaijan are arch enemies and have disputed the region of Nagorno-Karabakh since the early 1990s.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)

Kazakhstan might not be able to afford 2022 Games

OCT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s ministry of sport said that if it was to win the right to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2022 it would expect advertisers and investors to fund around 66% of the costs. Kazakhstan is desperate to host the Winter Olympics but observers have said that it might not be able to afford it.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)

Kazakh city expects Olympic win

OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Almaty is talking up its chances of hosting the Winter Olympic Games in 2022. A spokesman for the country’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk- Kazyna, which is promoting the bid, said it was almost certain to win the Games after Oslo dropped out. Beijing is the other candidate city.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)

Azerbaijan’s human rights makes F1 controversial

OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s inaugural Formula 1 race in 2016 will take place through the streets of Baku, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said.The race is controversial because of Azerbaijan’s crackdown on human rights. For Azerbaijan, though, it represents a great PR coup.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Tajik footballer returned home

SEPT. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik footballer Khurshed Beknazarov has test positive for a banned substance at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, media reported. Reports said that the 20-year-old defender had been sent home. The Asian Games are a showcase for countries and the ruling will be an embarrassment to Tajikistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Azerbaijan to host Euro 2020 football matches

SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has scored its second major football success of the year.

In May Athletico Madrid played in the Champions League final against its inter-city rivals Real Madrid, one of the most-watched sports events in the world. Emblazoned across its shirt was “Azerbaijan: Land of Fire”, a logo designed to promote the country as a tourist destination.

Athletico Madrid may have lost that match, but for Azerbaijan’s international image it was a storming success.

Now UEFA, European footballs’ governing body, has said Baku will be one of the host cities for the Euro 2020 football tournament. More precisely, Baku will host three group games and one of the quarter-final matches in the first trans-continental Euro football championship (Sept. 19).

This is a major coup for Azerbaijan as hosting four of Euro 2020 football matches guarantees blanket TV coverage and kudos.

It’s even more impressive given the context. The other four host cities for Euro 2020 are London, Munich and Rome — cities with long football lineage — and St Petersburg.

Baku has been pushing hard to promote itself through sport. This year it secured the right to host a Grand Prix race in 2016 and it is hosting the inaugural European Games in 2015. Hosting the quarterfinal of Euro 2020 will probably top the list though.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Azerbaijan inks Man United deal

SEPT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s football federation has signed a deal with English football club Manchester United to help it develop grass-roots interest in the sport, media reported. Azerbaijan has been developing links with various football clubs.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)

The World Nomadic Games strike a Kyrgyz chord

CHOLPON-ATA/Kyrgyzstan, SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In front of a packed hippodrome in this provincial town of shores of the mountain-ringed Lake Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan A beat Kyrgyzstan B to win gold in the main event of Kok-Boru at this inaugural Nomadic Games.

Amid the enthusiastic roars of local Kyrgyz, foreign diplomats cheered on half-heartedly between snipes about graft and the hippodrome’s overloaded portaloos.

While the World Nomadic Games was designed to unite all countries of the Turkic-speaking world, it retained a very local flavour throughout, with the hosts cruising to victory in the medal table — the majority of the competitors were Kyrgyz — and poor planning abounding. None of the presidents of the competing states — Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — showed up as hoped before the games began.

The Kok-Boru on July 14 was spectacular, however. Exhibition games of Kok-Boru, a polo-like game played with a dried goat carcass, are common at tourist-focussed festivals throughout the country. This one was far more competitive, with the captain of Kyrgyzstan’s A team sporting a battle-inflicted gash across his forehead as he lead his team to victory over the B team.

Russia’s federal Altai Republic and Turkey claimed silver and bronze in the event respectively. Following a reported disagreement over the rules of Kok-Boru — or Kokpar to the Kazakhs — neighbouring Kazakhstan refused to send a team.

Also on Sept. 14, to the chuckles of local spectators, horses belonging to former Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov claimed the bronze and silver medals for the 2.5 km flat race. Babanov’s weakness for stallions is legendary.

He was jettisoned from the government amid rumours he had accepted a racehorse a bribe for securing a foreign investment for a Turkish businessmen in 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)