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Armenian Deputy Minister: Armenia may be deprived of the opportunity to host a World Cup due to the burning of the Azerbaijani flag

15 April 2023 20:55 (UTC +04:00)

Armenia may lose its opportunity to host the World Weightlifting Championship due to the burning of the Azerbaijani flag at the opening ceremony of the European Championship in Yerevan, said Karen Giloyan, Armenian Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in an interview with "Sputnik Armenia", APA reports.

"The saddest thing is that we won the opportunity to host the 2024 World Cup yesterday, before the event. This was an exceptional chance for us," he said.

According to Giloyan, the Armenian side is engaging with foreign partners in order to demonstrate that there are no issues with the athletes' safety. He emphasized that the Armenian side protects the safety of Azerbaijani athletes and that the incident is unrelated to it.

"We're doing everything we can to mitigate the situation. We were hoping that the consequences are not to be severe," Giloyan said.

At the same time, the deputy minister stated that the European Weightlifting Federation's president, Antonio Conflitti, was in attendance in the hall during the incident.

Giloyan and Antonio Conflitti talked with representatives of Azerbaijan.