A press conference was held in Baku today, which was dedicated to summing up the results of the Islamic Solidarity Games. The Azerbaijani national team won the most of the Baku Islamic Games gold medals: 75 gold medals, including 38 in strength sports events, 9 in gymnastics, 10 in athletics, 6 in shooting, 6 in water sports, 5 in game sports, including one gold medal in football, and one gold medal in weightlifting.
Azerbaijan's Minister of Youth and Sport Azad Rahimov emphasized at the press conference that the Islamic Solidarity Games were held in Baku at the highest level. "Over 70% of the participating countries won medals, which speaks of the great competition at the games. We organized all organizational events at a high level, security was provided in the proper amount, there was no single problematic issue during the competitions that took place at 16 sites," the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza cited him as saying.
The minister said that about 3 thousand athletes and 1 thousand delegates took part in the games. "The opening and closing ceremonies of the Islamic Solidarity Games were not inferior to the First European Games. Many athletes will leave on May 25, so we continue to organize their residence in the capital," Azad Rahimov said.
The head of the Ministry of Sport of Azerbaijan compared the Islamic Games in Baku with the Olympics in Rio. "Perhaps, the Islamic Solidarity Games were held at even a higher level than the Olympics in Rio. The opening and closing ceremonies of the games were attended by 4,6 thousand volunteers, 1,5 thousand employees worked in the Organizing Committee, of which 1,4 thousand were local experts. About 360 thousand tickets were sold, citizens of 56 countries visited us," he said.
The representative of the Executive Committee of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation, Ashraf Dahruq, stressed that the games in Baku showed solidarity of all Islamic countries and expressed gratitude to the first vice-president of Azerbaijan, chairperson of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games Organizing Committee Mehriban Aliyeva, for the high level of organization of the competitions. "I believe Azerbaijan will continue its participation in strengthening Islamic solidarity. These games have become a message to the whole world that Azerbaijan is ready to hold large international competitions. I say with all responsibility that Azerbaijan can host the Olympic Games," he said.
"I have been at all the previous games, and I will say that the games in Baku have indicated the right way of our Federation, which we will follow. Our federation expresses the idea that these games were truly Olympic, and even better than the Olympics in Rio," Ashraf Dahrug said.
Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan, Vice President of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation Chingiz Huseynzade, noted that the Azerbaijani national team could not have won so many medals, if training of athletes had not been held at such a high level. "I am very pleased that the results were shown not only by young athletes, but also by our veterans," he said, citing Rafael Agayev and Nazim Babaev, as well as successes in football.
