"Dear athletes! You returned to your homeland from Konya a few days ago, and you have returned with a great victory. You have once again raised the sporting glory of our country. I would like to congratulate you on this occasion from the bottom of my heart and express my gratitude for the achievements you have made. I am sure that the people of Azerbaijan are proud of you because you have once again shown the whole world that Azerbaijan is a sports nation and Azerbaijani athletes are distinguished for their strength," said President Ilham Aliyev on August 22 in his speech while meeting with athletes who succeeded in the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games, APA reports.
"To become fourth in the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games is a tremendous achievement. This achievement shows that our previous successes were not accidental. As you know, our team won the first place in the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku five years ago. And that was also natural because home soil always provides extra support to athletes. This time, as a result of a very close competition, we finished the Games in fourth place. Let me also say that the countries were represented by the strongest athletes in the Games. Our athletes have once again shown the strength of our country by winning 99 medals, 29 of which are gold medals.
I should also note that it is very gratifying that our athletes won medals in a total of 19 sports. This shows that many types of sports are developing well in our country. Of course, coming first – if it is at all possible to say so – are wrestlers, who have won 23 medals, including eight gold. And this is also natural because wrestling is our national sport and we have traditionally been successful in wrestling. Coming second are representatives of gymnastics. Our athletes have won 17 medals in three types of gymnastics, including eight gold. In third place are non-Olympic sports – kickboxing athletes. The number of medals they have won is 15, and three of them are gold medals. So this is a huge achievement indeed because more than 50 countries participated in these Games and, as I said earlier, the competition was very close," noted the head of state.
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