Hrachya Rostomyan: We had a great year in terms of success in sport

Armenian athletes won total 35 medals in European and World championships and the Olympic Games.

“This year was definitely brilliant. We got everything we hoped and waited for. Finally, we won an Olympic gold we haven’t seen for 20 years,” the Minister said.

Rostomyan thinks that Armenia has a problem with healthy life style and mass sport because people here don’t go into sports much.

“Schools don’t take physical training seriously. Sport is taught by teachers of 1-3 grades. Children have 3 training lessons until the 8th grade, and one of them is chess. Now they learn Armenian dances too. Nothing should be done on the expense of physical training subject,” he stressed.

The Ministry will try to solve the issue of Eastern martial arts as well. More than 150 federations operate in Armenia, while the world has only two types of karate: full contact and no-contact.

According to Minister Rostomyan, in 2017 students event will continue to receive close attention, and more competitions should be organized for students as the moving power of mass sport.