Second European Games in Belarus

MINSK, 1 September (BelTA) – The European Games in Minsk will not yield to the world's largest sports forums in terms of scale and organization, Acting President of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Janez Kocijancic told the media in the National Olympic Committee of Belarus, BelTA has learned.

“The signing of the contract to hold the European Games is a historic day for Belarus and the European Olympic Committees. Ten months ago, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko accepted an offer from the EOC to hold the Second European Games in Minsk. I must say, we have made an excellent choice. Not only because Belarus did well in Baku in 2015 where it won more than 40 medals. But because your country has good infrastructure. The EOC members made sure of this already. In addition, Belarusians has strong sport traditions, know hot to organize big events. In 2014 Minsk played host to the IIHF World Championship, and passed this test with flying colors,” Janez Kocijancic said.

The European Games will not yield, in scale and organization, to the world's largest sports forums. He noted that athletes from Europe win most of the medals, for example, at the Olympics. Many leading athletes will come to Minsk in 2019 because competitions in many sports will be qualifiers for the 32^nd Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Janez Kocijancic also hopes that Belarus will not yield to Azerbaijan by the number of broadcasting countries. In 2015 the competitions from Baku were broadcast in 145 countries.

Belarus was chosen to host the Second European Games in 2019 after a vote at the 45th General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees in Minsk in October 2016. Over 4,000 athletes are expected to take part in the competitions to be held in Minsk on 21-30 June 2019.

The competition program will include 15 sports. Competitions in badminton, boxing, cycling, canoe and kayak, judo, karate, athletics, archery, shooting, table tennis will be qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.