2018 half-year activity report

5 July 2018

The republican competitions on athletics, basketball, badminton, judo, hockey, football, handball, powerlifting, table tennis, swimming and volleyball were conducted by the Committee in March-June. More than 1,000 athletes from nearly 25 social service institutions, orphanages, special and secondary boarding schools of Baku-Absheron, Ganja, Sumgayit, Sheki, Lankaran, Goeychay and Salyan regions attended the competitions.

Meanwhile, the Committee's mini-football team participated in the Special Olympic European Football Tournament was held in St. Petersburg, Russia. The results were as following:

Azerbaijan 2: 0 Faroe Islands
Azerbaijan 3: 3 Belarus
Azerbaijan 1: 2 Kazakhstan

At the next stage, Special Olympics Azerbaijan’s team won the 3rd place by defeating the Faroe Islands with a 6-0 score.

Special Olympics European Unified Tournament was held in Zrenjanin, Serbia on June 6-10. The results of our team's preliminary matches were as following:

Azerbaijan 25:14 Belarus

Azerbaijan 25:15 Serbia-2

After the preliminary games, our national team took part in the II division. The results were as following:

Semi-finals: Azerbaijan - Germany – 25:18, 25:15

Final: Azerbaijan - Serbia-1 – 13:25, 16:25

Thus, our national team won silver medals at the European Volleyball Tournament having lost only in the match with Serbia.

A memorandum was signed on 4 April, to hold the Global Forum of Special Olympics Young Leaders in Azerbaijan. Memorandum was signed by Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan's Minister of Youth and Sports, and David Evangelista, President of the Special Olympic European and Eurasian Movement. At the same time, the President of the Special Olympic Azerbaijan Shahin Aliyev and Chief Advisor of the UN Office of the Representative of the UN Population Fund Farid Babayev signed a cooperation agreement between the two organizations.

On 26-27 June, the project of the development of girls' football, jointly organized by the Special Olympics Azerbaijan and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Azerbaijan was presented at the Baku Sports Palace. At the same time, the presentation of the Unified Sports program was held. During the presentation, Jenni Häkkinen, Youth, Schools and University Engagement Manager at Special Olympics Europe Eurasia, has gone through an open training for athletes and coaches in the project.

The following events are planned for the second half of 2018:

- Training of the national teams on 10 sports branches (athletics, basketball, badminton, judo, football, handball, powerlifting, table tennis, swimming, volleyball) for the World Special Summer Olympic Games in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 8-22 March 2019;

- Preparation for the "Global Forum" and other events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the World Special Olympics Movement to be held in Baku on 24-28 September 2018;

- Preparation and training for the 3rd National Games on 10 sports of the Committee to be held in connection with the 25th anniversary of the Special Olympic Movement in Azerbaijan (the first decade of October);

- Training for "Basketball Week" and volleyball competitions dedicated to the International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3.