Armenia’s deputy minister of sports regrets to see empty stands at IWF world championships

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Karen Giloyan has expressed hope that the International Weightlifting Federation will entrust “weightlifting countries”, where the sport is loved and the arenas won’t be empty, to host world championships.

“I was very sorry to see the stands at the arenas empty during the world championship. When I remember the Yerevan European championships, I feel sorry that the stands were vacant at the world championships. Interest towards the sport is declining even without that. Hosting the world championship in a “non-weightlifting” country will completely nullify interest towards weightlifting,” Giloyan said in an interview with ARMENPRESS.

The last time the World Weightlifting Championship was held in the European continent was in 2014.

“Next year the world championship will be held in Bahrain. I am sure that the stands will be empty again. We want to increase interest towards weightlifting,” Giloyan said.

He congratulated the Armenian national weightlifting team for their success in the world championship, where they finished 1st in the team ranking.

Speaking about the results of the Armenian athletes, Giloyan said that Armenia could have maximum three weightlifters in the next Olympic Games, and it’s up to the coaching staff to select the athletes.