Azerbaijan to increase number of winter sport athletes

Azerbaijan, Baku, September 3 /Trend, M.Aliyev Azerbaijan intends to increase the number of athletes competing in winter sports, Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov said at a press conference on Tuesday. Conditions have been created at Shahdag to prepare athletes for winter sports, the minister said. "At the upcoming Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi in 2014, four athletes will represent Azerbaijan with two in figure skating and two in slalom. Of course, it is too few, but all the necessary conditions have been created in Azerbaijan for development of winter sports and we can start preparing athletes," he stressed. Negotiations are being held in regard to this process with sport federations on attracting trainers and new staff, the Minister said. "Earlier there was no necessary infrastructure and athletes. Today we have a perfect infrastructure and only the issue of attracting athletes and trainers is left unresolved," Rahimov added.