The Republican Olympic Centre hosted the 14th Alexander Antipov Memorial. The tournament organized with the support of Financial Chain Corporation by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Azerbaijan Athletic Federation, and the Athletic Club, was held on February 17-18.
It included competitions in the broad jump, hop skip and jump, and 60-meter sprint run.
Speaking to AzeriSport.com, Maharram Sultanzadeh, FAA Secretary General, told the Antipov Memorial held in memory of Alexander Antipov, a merited coach to be traditional. His students were able to cross the 17-meter line for the first time. Mammad Akhundov and Vasif Asadov had been included into the select team of the former USSR for many years, and nobody could have beaten Vasif Asadov’s record set in 1988, neither at stadiums (17.33) nor indoors (17.37) yet. The record by Nazim Babayev in hop skip and the jump was 17.27.
The record by Nazim Babayev in hop skip and the jump was 17.27.
The Secretary General of the Federation told only 50 local athletes to have taken part in the tournament for the first time in 12 years. The Kyrgyzstan and Georgian teams refused to come to the tournament due to lack of funding at the last moment and it was reported a day prior of the start of the tournament. The Ukrainian team was supposed to take part but they had the national championship at that time, and could not come to the competition. Mr. Sultanov expressed his hope the tournament to retain its international status next year.
He noted all the strongest Azerbaijani athletes to have taken part in the tournament, and the winners of the competitions had been Nazim Babayev and Yekaterina Sariyeva in the men’s and women’s categories accordingly. Sariyeva’s result was 13.35, being her best one in the season. Besides she won silver in a tournament in Serbia having jumped to 13.33 three days before.
Sprint distances were held within the framework of the Memorial for the first time. Jumping disciplines were included to the tournament previously. The winner among women was Lamiya Veliyeva, and Alikhan Naghiyev was the first among men.
Mr.Sultanzadeh mentioned an agreement with the National Sports Federation of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of the Russian Federation. Competitions in Yakut jumps were held under agreement within the framework of the tournament as a kind of tradition. Unfortunately, the Yakut delegation was not able to come to Baku either.
The Secretary General of the Federation noted the leaders of the team to have performed differently, as Yekaterina Sariyeva made progress and showed her best result, but Nazim Babayev’s result was not good enough due to the lack of competition, and he won with a score of 16.24, when the athlete taken the second place showed 14.71 with only one and a half meters.
He told about the European Championship to be held from March 2 to 5 in Istanbul (Turkey), where the Azerbaijani athletes were preparing, and both Yekaterina Sariyeva and Nazim Babayev were to take part.
Mr. Sultanzadeh appreciated the support of the Financial Chain Corporation, and mentioned it to have already been the second one to the classical athletic tournament, the first being the National Championship held in January. He expressed gratitude to FCHAIN for its partnership with the Federation and support of sports, which was of great importance. The Head of the Federation spoke about the active participation of Financial Chain Corporation in the mass sports events the Federation held as well.
https://www.azerisport.com/athletics/20230220155246009.html
