I watched the competitions as much as I could and saw how much injustice was shown towards our athletes, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said addressing the meeting with the country’s athletes who succeeded in the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games, Trend reports.
“I told you in our meeting on the opening day of the Games in Konya that I was confident that you would represent our country with dignity. I am glad that this is exactly what happened. Once again, not only the entire Muslim world but also the whole world saw the power of our athletes. Every time our Flag is raised and our National Anthem is played, every citizen of Azerbaijan feels rightly proud. Every single victory enhances our glory even more. I told you during the meeting in Konya that you had additional responsibility because you would be representing a winning country in the Games. This is a factor of pride, but at the same time, it is a great responsibility. Realizing this responsibility, you represented our country with dignity even though, unfortunately, the judges were sometimes unfair and biased against you. I watched the competitions as much as I could and saw how much injustice was shown towards our athletes. Despite that, you tried to prove your strength by taking correct steps – both yourself and your coaches – and you succeeded.
The Games were held in our fraternal country and, of course, our athletes felt very comfortable there. Every athlete felt absolutely at home. At the opening ceremony, we also witnessed our Turkish brothers warmly greet our athletes when Team Azerbaijan entered the stadium. It looked as though our team was entering a stadium in Baku. This really shows again how interconnected our nations are. It shows that not only the presidents are brothers to each other – our nations and athletes are brothers too. There in the stadium, tens of thousands of viewers welcomed Team Azerbaijan as their home team.
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely congratulate Turkiye and its athletes on the high-level organization of the Games and finishing first place team standings. I must also say that hosting the Games requires serious organizational efforts. I remember having to resolve many organizational matters as we were preparing to host the 2017 Games. Not every country can host the Games at this level. Although the Konya Games are officially considered the Fifth Islamic Solidarity Games, the Games have been held only four times. The first Games were held in Saudi Arabia, the second in Indonesia, the third in Azerbaijan and the fourth in Turkiye. Officially though, these have been the Fifth Solidarity Games. So I want to say that hosting the Games is not an easy task, and the Turkish side certainly deserves a lot of praise.
The Games are now in the past. I am sure that our athletes will be proud to carry these medals. But we have to look to the future now and determine what other steps should be taken for the development of sports in Azerbaijan,” the head of state said.
Source: TREND News Agency