29 July 2017, 07:52
Azerbaijani national wrestling team boycotts World Championships
Wrestlers of the national team refuse to go to Paris, where the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships will start on August 21. The athletes are note paid their salaries for more than a year.
On July 28, members of the Azerbaijani team held a protest near the base of the national team at the "Excelsior" Hotel. The action also involved Olympic champion Togrul Askerov.
The athletes sated that the National Olympic Committee and the Ministry for Sports are aware of the problem, but they do nothing to solve it.
According to wrestler Gadji Aliev, the athletes were assured that the whole amount of their salaries would be paid after the Islamic Games; however, they still did not get the money.
The Islamic Solidarity Games are an international sporting event that involves the best athletes from the countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The solemn opening of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games was held in Baku on May 12.
Besides, physicians and masseurs also do not receive their salaries.
Greco-Roman wrestlers also boycott the Youth World Championships to be held in Finland on August 1-6. The athletes refused to compete because of financial problems, the "Vesti.az" reports.
Athletes from the freestyle wrestling team face similar problems; however, the freestyle wrestlers intend to solve them and go to the World Championship Cup at their own expense.
According to Samaya Mamedova, the press secretary for the Ministry for Sports and Youth Affairs, the wrestlers complain not about the Ministry, but about the Wrestling Federation.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
