By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Football
The U-19 European championship qualifying Group 7 tournament in Cyprus was marred by a nasty incident when Azeri and Armenian footballers and fans fought in the stadium.
According to the Nicosia-based Gibrahayer E-magazine, the football ground became a battlefield in the match between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in which Azerbaijan came from a goal down to win the match.
“An arrogant Azerbaijani under 19 football side almost unconcerned with its surroundings – playing in Cyprus in front of a partisan Armenian Cypriot crowd – littered an otherwise calm match with political arch-rivals Armenia, with unsportsmanlike behavior, obscene gestures and constant provocations aimed at the fans in the stand,” the Cypriot-Armenian magazine writes.
It went on to say that these gestures went “unnoticed” by the match officials throughout the game and fired up the Armenian fans, who “retaliated” when the Azerbaijani side went ahead 2-1. Gibrahayer writes that instead of acting in a sportsmanlike manner, three Azeri footballers moved towards the Armenian fans to provoke them.
Armenian Cypriot fans climbed the protective fence and headed towards members of the Azeri team. One fan singled out the Azeri No.22 who was particularly “gracious” in his conduct throughout the game and landed a single blow on him. The footballer went down and the fight spread in seconds.
Play was interrupted for more than half an hour, during which the Azeri side was rounded up by a UEFA official for a pep talk to stop the provocations.
Armenian footballer Romik Khachatryan, currently playing with Anorthosis FC, whose stadium was being used for the under 19 fixture, was among many who tried to calm tensions. Play resumed only after police intervention.
Armenia’s Under 19 year team, coached by Armen Gyulbudaghyan, finished third in the group. They lost 1-2 to Azerbaijan in the opening match, then went on to beat host nation Cyprus 1-0 before being soundly beaten 1-4 by Hungary.
The top two qualifiers were Hungary and Azerbaijan. Ian Porterfield, Armenia’s national team coach, and Samvel Petrosyan, the coach of the under 21 side, accompanied the young squad.
Currently, Porterfield is preparing the senior team for its trip to Finland in the European Championships qualifying match on November 15. Armenia and Azerbaijan must play each other twice next year in the qualifying group.
Chess
Melkumyan
Armenian chess player Robert Aghasaryan has become the World Under 12 Champion. Aghasaryan gained 9 points of 11 without a single loss at the World Youth Championships in Batumi, Georgia.
Hrant Melkumyan won the silver medal in the Under 18 class, with 8 points out of 11.
Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronyan will play in Mikhail Tal Memorial contest which starts on November 5 in Moscow, Russia. His competitors will be GMs Svidler (Russia), Morozevich (Russia), Leko (Hungary), Gelfand (Israel), Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Shirov (Spain), Grischuk (Russia), Ponomariov (Ukraine), Carlsen (Norway) in the tournament of the 20th rank.
The Mikhail Tal Memorial games can be followed online at www.armchess.am
Weightlifting
The European Weightlifting Federation has overturned the bronze medal won by Armenia’s heavyweight lifter Ashot Danielyan at the European championships in Poland in May and disqualified the athlete after his positive test for doping was confirmed recently, A1 Plus reports.
The Armenian athlete, who had won the European title in the past, retired from the sport before the decision was announced.
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