Interview by Tatyana Dubrovina exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Several years ago the president of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov appointed Ahmed Kotiev, the former five-time world boxing champion, to the position of minister of physical culture, sport and tourism. Ahead of the Olympics in Sochi, Kotiev told Vestnik Kavkaza about development of sport in Ingushetia.
- Recently the Olympic torch relay passed through Ingushetia. You were the first torchbearer who welcomed the Olympic flame. Tell us about your impressions. What does it mean for you as an athlete?
- To be a torchbearer is great honor; as for me, I used to be an athlete, and it was a double pleasure. I felt warmth similar to the one I felt when I performed. Of course it was great, I was happy.
- There were no people among the torchbearers who weren’t associated with sport.
- In Ingushetia we had a lot of people who wanted to be torchbearers; and we chose the best, considering the number of quotas. All of them were honored people. The oldest was our Visan-Girei Barkhanoyev, he is 82 and he constantly promotes a healthy lifestyle and takes part in sporting events. Olympic champions, world champions and champions of Europe, honored coaches of the Soviet Union and Russia, our famous climber Leila Albogachieva who conquered Everest took part in the relay.
- How is sport developed in the republic? What are the priorities?
- Our priority is to make sport popular. When Yunus-Bek Yevkurov came to office, a lot changed in sport for the best. Of course our predecessors worked and did their best. But now our head of the republic is a master of sports in three disciplines, and I am a former professional athlete. Of course I am supported by my authorities. As a former athlete, I know from A to Z what my athletes need, what our residents need to go in for sports. And overall we try to do useful things for our people. Five years ago 11 thousand people were involved in sport systematically, and today there are 22 thousand of them.
And now we want our population to go in for sports and pay attention to their health. We will be healthy only if we look after ourselves. Thus, we organize a lot of sporting events, in which our sports veterans take part; they promote a healthy lifestyle.
On February 6th we will hold the first alpine tournament – slalom, giant slalom. Athletes from our neighboring regions will take part in it. We plan to open the ice arena this year. And I hope we will have our own hockey team. We have already discussed a hockey team with our colleagues from North Ossetia – at first we will go to the neighboring region to train, the road takes 20-30 minutes, i.e. we won’t wait for the end of construction of our ice arena and will begin training our athletes right now. I hope we will prepare winter sports athletes for the next Olympics.
- What are the most popular sports among the republic’s residents?
- Wrestling is popular in the Caucasus. However, three years ago we founded sections of track and field athletics, armsport, as not everybody wants to box or wrestle. When the ice arena is constructed, we will develop not only hockey, but also figure skating. And also ordinary people will have an opportunity to skate.
- Is sport popular among girls in Ingushetia?
- Yes, our girls are involved in taekwondo and kickboxing. Of course there are not many of them, but nevertheless. We have Fatima Bokova who is kickboxing world champion. We have taekwondo athletes who achieved good results in the NCFD and Russia. Girls like athletics and aerobics. We have a small swimming pool, and one day a week is a women-only day, when girls come to swim and take care of their health.
- Is there a swimming section in Magas swimming pool?
- At the moment the swimming pool belongs to the university. We organize republican and regional competitions there. A swimming section of the Ministry of Sport is not operated there yet, but we plan to open it. At the end of the year we will build a swimming pool in Nazran. So we intend to achieve results in swimming too.
- Today athletes of the republic take part in international and all-Russian competitions and often become winners. Can you tell about this?
- Last year Ingush athletes took the first team place in the Judo Championship of Russia. They selected the best regions, and the NCFD took the first place, while in the BCFD itself, Ingush athletes were the best. Moscow, St. Petersburg are cities where millions live; and in Ingushetia less than 500 thousand.
For two years in a row we have taken the first team place in the NCFD in boxing. In Dagestan boxing is at a high level; they performed well at all disciplines. But Ingushetia won! We have mass results, rather than one or two winners.
We pay great attention to karate, kickboxing, freestyle wrestling. We invited a head coach of the Turkish national team, Adam Barahoyev. He used to represent Turkey and became an Olympic medalist; later he worked in the Turkish national team, where freestyle wrestling is a national kind of sport. He was recognized to be the best coach in the world, and we invited him to work in Ingushetia. By the way, at the moment he is at an international contest in Turkey; he took 17 of our athletes there.
- Returning to the Olympic topic, will residents of the republic visit the Olympics as fans?
- Of course they will. I will go there too. Our chairman of the government will be there, as well as our athletes. 109 tickets were allocated to the republic. They are given as benefits; transport tickets and hotels will be paid for by the republic.
5 years ago Ingushetia took last place in Russia, according to the number of people going in for sports. Only 2% of people did it. My goal was to double the figure, but it has already been tripled. Our goal by the end of the year is 15%, in 2017 – 20%. Ingushetia will be one of the most sporting republics in Russia by 2017. In Ingushetia people respect sport and are proud of athletes and their victories.
