ROLAND SHAROYAN: HOLDING 4th PAN-ARMENIAN GAMES IS GREATEST PRACTICAL STEP FOR STRENGTHENING ARMENIA-DISAPORA RELATIONS
Noyan Tapan
Aug 28 2007
YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The holding of the 4th Pan-Armenian
Games is the greatest practical step for strengthening Armenia-Diaspora
relations, the deputy chairman of the world committee of the
Pan-Armenian Games Roland Sharoyan expressed an opinion at the
August 28 press conference. In his words, along with numerous postive
changes, a number of shortcomings have also been registered this year,
particularly improper state of playing-fields and gyms because funds
allocated for the Pan-Armenian Games were not sufficient for their
improvement. To recap, the overall budget of the 4th Pan-Armenian
Geams made about 80 million drams (235 thousand USD).
R. Sharoyan considered it natural that a considerable part of medals
was won by sportsmen from Armenia. "There are powerful sport bases
in Armenia, and our sportsmen are always in a good shape," he said,
adding that our compatriots from the Diaspora have been intensively
preparing for competitions only for the last two months.
Speaking about the incident during the basketball match between the
teams of Yerevan and Cairo, the representative of the organizing
committee said that the team of Yerevan has been deprived of the
right to participate in the next Pan-Armenian Games. According to
R. Sharoyan, it is envisaged that a similar decision will be taken
with respect to the football team of Stepanakert.