Azerbaijan announce date of European Games

Azerbaijan announced the dates and participating sports for the first European Games, which will be held in 2015 here.

Local media cited Sports Minister Azad Rahimov as saying at a news conference Tuesday that the competition will be held June 12-28 and include some 6,300 athletes and 19 events, reports Xinhua.

He said the disciplines will include archery, swimming, water polo, diving, track-and-field, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoe, cycling -- including BMX, mountain bikes and road bikes -- gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, judo, karate, shooting, trapshooting, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, beach and court volleyball, beach soccer, wrestling and fencing.

Rahimov said each of the European Olympic Committees' (EOC) 49 member countries will participate in the competition.

Europe's national Olympic committees established the games last year as an analogue to the Asian and Pan-American Games. Baku was the only candidate to host the event.