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YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will participate in Francophone Games, which are scheduled to be held in the French city of Nice on September 6-15, 2013. As reports "Armenpress" for this reason the Government of the Republic of Armenia has allocated AMD 30 million to the Ministry of Sports and Youth of the Republic of Armenia.
The Francophone Games are a combination of artistic and sporting events for the Francophonie, mostly French speaking nations, held every four years since 1989, partly as a counterweight to the Commonwealth Games.
There were four sports at the inaugural event in 1989: athletics, basketball, association football and judo. Handisport, handball, table tennis and wrestling were added to the competition programme in 1994. None of these four sports featured at the 1997 Jeux de la Francophonie, and boxing and tennis were introduced to the programme instead. Eight sports featured in 2001: the four inaugural sports, boxing and table tennis were included. Furthermore, handisport and beach volleyball competitions were held as demonstration events. Neither of these demonstration sports were included in 2005, with traditional style wrestling being demonstrated in addition to the six more established sports. The 2009 programme re-introduced beach volleyball.
Participation has so far varied between 1,700 and 3,000 athletes and artists.