 |
|
European Games Set for Lift-off in Baku in 2015 after EOC Gives Green Light |
|
|
Games - 10 Dec 2012 - By Simon Ward and Jonathan Rest
The first European Games will take place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, in 2015 after the concept for a new multi-sports event was approved by the European Olympic Committees on Saturday.
Delegates at the EOC general assembly in Rome voted 38-8 in favour of the games, with three abstaining, and the event will take place every four years.
As revealed by Sportcal on Friday, Baku was the proposed host for the inaugural games, which are set to take place in May 2015 and involve 15 Olympic sports and two non-Olympic sports.
European Athletics and the LEN, swimming’s European governing body, have still to be convinced of the event’s viability, while talks are also continuing with the European Gymnastics Union and the European Wrestling Association. Wrestling is a particularly popular sport in Azerbaijan.
An EOC executive board member told Sportcal that the inclusion of athletics and swimming, arguably the two most high-profile Olympic sports, “is an absolute must” if the European Games are to have “any credibility on the international sports scene.”
The 2015 European Games sports programme will be finalised next March, with European federations representing 13 sports having signed letters of intent to be included: archery; badminton; boxing; canoeing; fencing; handball; judo; rugby [sevens]; shooting; table tennis; taekwondo; triathlon; and volleyball.
The two non-Olympic sports to be included are dancesport and karate, which is one of eight sports vying for a place on the 2020 Olympic Games sports programme.
The games have been in the pipeline for some time, with Patrick Hickey, the president of the EOC, a leading proponent of a continental event along the lines of the well-established Asian Games and Pan American Games.
The new event is expected to last for 14 days and is budgeted to cost €182 million ($233 million) to stage and bring in revenues of €124 million, with the difference to be made up by governments and/or host cities.
Last week. Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, said that plans to initiate a European Games been "very well studied." He led a similar study into such an initiative as chairman of the EOC in the mid-1990s.
An EOC delegation, led by Hickey, has already conducted an evaluation of Baku’s hosting credentials, and was left impressed by the city’s plans.
However, Armenia asked not to vote on Saturday as it remains in conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The award of the 2015 European Games is a major boost to Baku and the Azerbaijan Olympic Committee, which was left disappointed by its failure to make the shortlist of candidate cities for the 2020 Olympic Games earlier this year.
Baku received no votes out of the 12 on offer from the International Olympic Committee's executive board, as for the second summer Olympics bid race in succession the city was kicked out at the first stage.
The IOC’s working group report had questioned the “vast amount of infrastructure” that would need to be built in Baku to host the Olympics, and also cited Azerbaijan’s lack of experience in hosting major international sports events.
However, the country recently staged soccer's Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup and the Azerbaijan Olympic Committee believes a successful hosting of the European Games in Baku will add necessary weight to the capital's proposed bid for the 2024 Olympics.
Sportcal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
| Powered by |  |
|
|